A New Swordsman in Los Angeles - PART 2
by Frapper
Summary: Continuation from "A New Swordsman in Los Angeles - PART 1". A group of ruthless bounty hunters arrive at the pueblo to hunt for Zorro, and Victoria realizes who she truly loves. Taking part on the "A Death in the Pueblo" challenge.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's notes: This story takes part on the challenge "A Death in the Pueblo", which should include: someone is dead or presumed dead; the alcalde must be locked in jail; Zorro must use his whip; mention of Albondiga's soup; a laced handkerchief. **

**It is a continuation from my other story taking part in the first challenge: "Too much wine".**

**There are a few original characters introduced on the first part. So, you should read PART 1 of "A New Swordsman in Los Angeles" first, or you won't have a clue what's going on. ;) **

**WARNING: again, a few injuries and medical treatments. Nothing too alarming, but skip those if you don't like blood and pain (but that was real life for a surgeon at a time without painkillers and proper anaesthetics).**

**DISCLAIMER: this story is based on the NWZ series. It is a non-profit project intent for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights on the characters belong to Zorro Productions Inc. except the original characters created by me (the Blasco family, Karl Jager, and the Cossack brothers, among others). **

**Special thanks to my beta readers, Marla and Sandrine, for all their hard work.**

**Enjoy, and please review, even if you read this story years after it was first published. I love getting reviews, and feedback is always useful. Thank you.**

**A New Swordsman in Los Angeles – PART 2**

**Chapter 12 – Something to celebrate**

Don Alejandro kept a suspicious eye on his son the rest of the evening. Diego looked so happy and radiant all of a sudden, in such a contrast with his behaviour during the past few days when he acted like a mad man, refusing contact with anybody, neglecting himself, lost in his inner world with an empty look in his eyes. There was no doubt about it: Diego and Cristina were in love. Their body language gave it away, both transfixed with each other, ignoring the rest of the world. After all the time waiting for Diego to find a suitable woman, he was delighted to see this happening. But, that wasn't the attitude he'd observed at the start of the evening, when they looked polite to each other but completely uninterested. Don Alejandro's initial impression had been that they actually disliked each other. Something happened during dinner to allow such transformation, but he had missed it completely and it was bothering him no end. He assumed that Diego's odd behaviour was the result of being secretly in love, while pretending that he wasn't, but he suspected there was something else as well.

Don Alejandro looked at the couple disappearing into the twilight in the garden. He sighed and smiled shaking his head, putting aside the suspicions and accepting the facts: his son was finally in love. Doña María Luisa joined him at the back door, also smiling.

"Alejandro, it looks like we may become family quite soon."

"Did you notice too?" he said, laughing, turning to face her. "Of course, you did. You are a woman. You ladies always notice this kind of thing."

"To be honest, Alejandro, I thought they didn't like each other. I am very surprised."

"So did I! Something happened during dinner, but I can't figure out what. It is bothering me. They were talking about Diego and his studies at university, and then—"

"What was that? What is bothering you?" Don Francisco said, approaching them with three glasses of expensive wine.

"We are talking about Diego and Cristina," Doña María Luisa said. "Haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed what?" he asked, handing out the glasses, still oblivious.

"Them!" Don Alejandro said. "They look so happy all of a sudden. They are in love!"

"Are they? Oh, that's wonderful. We will become family then. That deserves a toast!" he said raising his glass, a little bit unsteady. It was his fourth glass, and he was becoming a bit tipsy. "To love!" Don Francisco shouted, over-enthusiastically.

"To family," Doña María Luisa said, raising her glass, touching lightly her husband's.

"To grandchildren!" Don Alejandro said, raising his, clinking the other two.

They all laughed happily at the prospect.

ZZZ

"So, the _Academia di Belle Arti di Firenze_… just like Leonardo?" Diego said shortly after they stepped into the garden, away from the others.

"How did you know? How did you know I am the Italian?"

Cristina looked back over her shoulder. Don Alejandro was looking at them, smiling, so she continued strolling towards the darkest part of the garden, restraining herself from running to confront Diego.

"It was the cat. He scratched your arm," he said smiling, nodding at it. She looked at her arm and blinked in surprise. She had forgotten about it.

"Really?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that, if I hadn't worn this short sleeve dress tonight, we wouldn't have found out?" She thanked her mother for this, because she hated the dress, but Doña María Luisa insisted it was perfect for her this evening. "Wow."

"I guess so. Before tonight I didn't suspect it was you, at all. How could I?" He stopped to face her, staring at her. "And how did you know I am Zorro? I thought I played the geek to perfection."

"I didn't suspect it, either. Not before tonight, not before you asked if I could speak Italian, and then you looked at me…well… the way you did… How can you be Zorro! It is unbelievable! Amazing!" she squeaked, grabbing his arm excited like a kid, jumping up and down.

"I am amazed that you can fight so well with a sword. You beat me! You even slapped my arse! Oh, sorry, I mean, my rear end…Where did you learn to fence like that?" he asked, very excited himself, bursting with admiration.

"I did, didn't I? I even _Z'ed_ you!" she said, laughing wholeheartedly. "You were so angry about that, you lost the plot completely."

"Yes, I did. I am so sorry. I could have killed you then. I was so angry." He flushed, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"Well, I am glad you didn't. But there is no need to apologize. It was my fault. I have a gift for making people angry. I can't help it. I should have known better. Will you forgive me?" she asked, not waiting for a reply. "And I should thank you, anyway. You saved my life."

"Oh, no, _you had that maggot right where you wanted._"

They both burst out laughing, remembering her cocky attitude. They chuckled for a while, and then they fell silent, both wondering how to take the next step.

"You are everything I want. You are the one I've been waiting for all my life," Cristina whispered, looking down to the ground, embarrassed to open her heart to him.

"Thank you. But, I am sorry, I cannot say the same."

She looked up at him again, with deep disappointment in her eyes.

"I didn't even imagine a woman like you could actually exist, not in my wildest dreams. I am… ecstatic," he said, coming closer to her. Their mutual attraction pulled again irresistibly, and they shared a long, passionate kiss. When they recovered their senses, parting their lips slowly, Diego hugged her tightly, rubbing his chin on her left temple.

"I am so glad you are Leonardo—you cannot imagine how much. I thought I was going crazy. The last week was hell on Earth. I thought I was in love with a man, and I could not understand how that was possible."

"Well, discovering that Zorro was homosexual was kind of disappointing too," she said, giggling. "It was unsettling to think the man I loved was interested in the nutty Italian. Besides, not knowing who was behind the mask was driving me crazy too."

"I am never going to let you go," he said, holding her even tighter, rocking her from side to side.

"Oh, no, of course you are. I can't breathe!" she said with a muffled voice, her face buried in his chest. Not that she did mind too much to die like that. She felt so secure in his arms—thrilled, but extremely calmed at the same time. In peace. At home. She remembered what her mother told her, a long time ago: "_the heart knows what the heart wants." _She had never understood what she meant, until now.

"Oh, sorry, sorry," he said, relaxing his tight embrace. He looked at her beautiful face, his heart racing with anticipation, joy and desire. What were the odds to find someone like her? Someone so attractive, intelligent, interesting… And, above all, someone who could fully understand his predicament. Someone who _knew_ what it was to live a double life. Someone like him, who could keep a secret for years.

Suddenly, he felt the urge to secure his future with this exceptional woman, so he stepped back, grabbed her hands, and fell on his left knee.

"Querida señorita, I fell _inappropriately_ in love with Leonardo over the last week," he said, winking with a cheeky smile, "and, I think I will hopelessly fall in love with his alter-ego pretty soon, as well… Will you consider to marry me, please?"

"What?" she asked, so surprised she could not believe it. Only a couple of hours ago she thought Diego was an unbearable jerk, and now he was asking her to marry him. It didn't make sense—or did it?

Surprised with his own rash action, he repeated the question while rubbing her hands gently with his thumbs.

"Will you marry me?"

In a matter of seconds, a handful of thoughts squeezed into Diego's mind. He thought briefly about Victoria, but she was lost to him. He also thought about Zafira, and it hurt. He didn't want to add another name to the list of women he had ever loved; women whom, in the end, married someone else. He could not bear the thought of losing Cristina as well, as he had lost the other women in his life. Besides, she was under pressure to get married, and so was he. Time was running out before his father would try to arrange his son's marriage to some random lady, in order to provide De la Vega's offspring. From a rational point of view, he knew it might be unwise to rush into marriage, hardly knowing the object of his desire, but his heart was lonely, and in Cristina he recognized a kindred spirit. Besides, being already on his knees, it was too late to back off, past the time to be rational, so he pressed on enthusiastically.

"We will keep each other's secret. It will be perfect; nobody will know what we are up to."

Cristina hesitated for a moment until she flashed a brilliant, broad grin. She could not believe her luck. Not only had she finally found _the one _—he was proposing on the spot.

"Yes! Yes, I will marry you, Diego. It will be so much fun!"

Diego stood up and kissed her again.

_Oh, yes, I will marry you_, she thought, her legs weakened, supported by his strong arms around her. _Of course I will_.

ZZZ

Diego and Cristina came back to the house holding hands. Don Alejandro and the Blascos were still talking about them, by the back door.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" Don Alejandro said when the couple were close enough to hear him. They smiled at him.

"Hello, everyone. We have an announcement to make," Diego said, holding Cristina's hand, rocking it gently to and fro. "But first, I have to ask you something, Don Francisco."

"I think we all know what that may be… but, go ahead," he said, chuckling.

"I would like to ask you for your daughter's hand in marriage," Diego said, flushing a bit, self-conscious with everybody looking at him.

"You are holding it already, so I don't see why not!" Don Francisco said, laughing. He shook Diego's free right hand lively, pulling him closer to hug him, and patted his back energetically. Diego let go of Cristina's hand, glad that his back wound was healed. "Congratulations… Son."

Doña María Luisa hugged Cristina, and kissed her cheeks. "I am so happy for you, dear. I didn't know you liked Diego."

"Yes," she said, looking at him, winking. "It was a secret."

"Let's celebrate! I'll get more wine," Don Francisco said, rushing unsteadily towards the cellar.

"Congratulations Diego!" Don Alejandro said, also hugging him. "I am so happy. I thought I would die without the joy of grandchildren. You certainly took your time to choose _The One._"

"What can I say? She is so special, she is one of a kind," Diego said, also winking back at Cristina.

Doña María Luisa and Don Alejandro also hugged and congratulated their soon to be son and daughter in law. Coming back with another bottle of expensive Spanish wine and two clean glasses, Don Francisco enthusiastically filled them up to the rim, refilling also the other three.

"To the happy couple," he toasted, lifting his glass again. "Let them be blessed with many years of happiness."

"And children," Don Alejandro added.

They all raised their glasses, clinking happily, and drank the wine. All except Diego, who was looking at his glass, hesitating. He didn't usually drink wine, and the last time he drank some it was the Porto wine that Felipe gave him to numb the pain when he removed the musket ball off his chest. Wincing in disgust, he swallowed the whole glass at once. After all —as Don Francisco was just saying to Doña María Luisa when she complained he had too much to drink for the night— it didn't happen every day that they had to celebrate Cristina and Diego's engagement.

ZZZ

Diego talked to Padre Benítez to arrange the wedding day, which would be in two months. That would provide enough time for the official bans to be displayed, and for the relatives and friends in California and Mexico to travel to Los Angeles for the wedding. Don Alejandro and Don Francisco wanted to invite some of their relatives from Spain, but it would take many weeks for the invitations to get there, and more than three months for the guests to arrive in California afterwards. Or even much longer than that depending on the route they would chose to travel.

Diego didn't want to wait so long to marry Cristina because he feared she could change her mind, but there was another important reason for the wedding to go ahead as soon as possible: to put closure to his relationship with Victoria. He tried to convince himself he didn't love her anymore but, there were moments when he imagined they might somehow have a chance to be together, though this was impossible, since she was already married to another man.

ZZZ

Over the next few weeks Cristina and Diego got to know each other a bit better. The couple enjoyed having long conversations about any topic, and words seemed to flow very easily between them. They would often go for a ride together in the long, late spring evenings, with some breaks for a picnic and the chance of a kiss. Continuing the charade of the perfect lady, she was still using the sidesaddle. If they had been riding in Spain instead, and even if she was going out with her fiancée and the wedding date was already set, she would not have been allowed to go out without a chaperone. At least California was a new world, and the rules were a little bit more relaxed than in the Old Continent.

_Stupid social rules_, she thought in one of those occasions, while riding with Diego.

"You will never be able to imagine how much I hate this saddle," she said when they stopped at a clearing by the stream that had become one of their favourite spots for a break. As any accompanying gentleman would do with a lady, Diego helped her to climb down the sidesaddle.

"Don't worry. Once you are my wife you won't need to ride on the sidesaddle anymore. I am not like your father. I couldn't care less about it. Actually, I think these saddles are quite dangerous, and I would prefer you to ride astride. After all, this is California, not Madrid," he said while spreading the picnic blanket on the grass.

"Wise words, Diego. They are dangerous. But of course, I already had that intention myself. Thank you very much for your permission," she said with a naughty smile.

"Then, you won't need to disguise as the Italian anymore," he added, casually. She stopped smiling.

"Why?"

"Well, you won't need to become a man to go for a ride if you ditch the sidesaddle, and I would prefer that you don't get in trouble like that anymore. It is dangerous. You could get hurt."

He didn't like the defiant look on her face. To avoid a confrontation, he went to the brook to fill up the glasses, but she followed him.

"And, what about you? I don't want to see you hurt, either. Are you going to give up Zorro for me? I don't think so!"

"It is not the same, and you know it," he said, defensively, but he could see her point.

"Why not? You take chances. You take a lot of risks. I don't want to be a widow shortly after marriage," she said with her hands at her hips. "Besides, I love fencing! I need the Italian for that."

"You could practice with me," he said, standing on a wet large stone to reach the running water. He bent down to fill up the glasses.

"Nah… that will be boring. I'll win all the time," she said, teasing him with her Italian man voice. "Not worth it."

"Really?" he said, laughing. "I think you deserve this, Miss Haughty."

He turned around quickly to throw the water in the glasses at her. She screamed, laughing, stepping back to avoid the water, but she tripped on a stone and she landed on her butt. She roared with laughter watching Diego lose his balance with his sudden motion, sliding on the slippery wet stone he was standing on. He landed flat on his back in the shallow water with a big splash, the glasses lost in the current.

"What goes around comes around!" she said in stitches, hardly able to talk. Water dripped down her hair and face, but she was not near as wet as Diego, who sat there in the middle of the stream, soaked. He was laughing too, embarrassed.

"I guess you are right, I deserve this. And, you will always win," he said standing up dripping water, walking carefully back to the bank, trying not to slip again. "I shouldn't have thrown that water at you." He stood in front of her, offering his hand to help her. She took it and pulled up to stand, but half way up Diego let go of her hand and she fell back again on her bottom. "Oh, sorry, slippery wet hand." Without looking back, he walked away towards the blanket, undoing his shirt to hang it to dry.

"You cheeky man…" she said, still laughing. She stood up herself, rubbing her bottom. "Ouch! That hurts."

She followed him back to the picnic area, where she watched him remove his shirt. She was mesmerized by his impressive physique; she never had imagined that quiet, wimpy Diego could be so strong, but after all, he was also Zorro. Looking at him, she gaped like a fish.

Diego hung the wet shirt on a branch, and turned around to find Cristina behind him, water dripping off her hair, with parts of her wet pale blue dress clinging to her bosom, making her even more beautiful and desirable. They came closer, and their mouths searched for each other's urgently. Joining in a passionate kiss, they slowly lowered their bodies on top of the blanket.

"Cristina, I should move away from you now. We should wait for the wedding," Diego said after a while, pulling apart, flushed. He stood up quickly, hoping his excitement would not be too obvious under his wet trousers... but it was. "Think of all the hours you stayed on that sidesaddle. What a waste of time it would have been otherwise."

He winked and she laughed. He was talking about the historical purpose of the sidesaddle: to preserve a lady's virginity, that could otherwise be lost inadvertently riding astride.

"Tell me about it." She sighed. "But, don't go away, come back here. We can still talk. We can control ourselves, can't we?" she said, patting a spot on the blanket close to her.

"Aaaaahhh…. hum.., I don't know if I can… Just wait a second."

He bowed theatrically, turned around and walked to the brook, jumping back in the cold, fresh water where he stayed for a few minutes. Cristina laughed and lay on the blanket waiting for him. When he finally came back he started to wring off his trousers because he didn't dare to remove them like he had done with the shirt, but Cristina insisted.

"You should take off the trousers and hang them to dry with your shirt. Don't worry, after all we are going to be married soon, so I should be used to seeing you in your underwear. Don't be silly."

Diego shrugged his shoulders, removed his trousers and hung them to dry next to his shirt. He came back to the blanket and lay on his back, rolling the edge over his legs to cover himself.

"Happy now?"

"Yes. El Pueblo de Los Angeles cannot afford a Zorro with a nasty cold," she joked.

"Nah… it happened before… They will be all right," he said, and they laughed again. Cristina rolled over on the blanket to lie on her right side, closer to him.

"What happened to you there?" she asked, touching the red scar on Diego's chest, caressing it lightly with her left index finger. "A war wound? It looks fresh."

"Yes, a war wound for Zorro. I was shot in the back, right through the chest. Felipe dug a hole there to remove the musket ball." He gently took Cristina's hand away from the spot and kissed her fingertips. That area was not painful anymore, but he didn't like the weird, numbed sensation he had on the scar. "Do you remember when you first met me, when I had my arm in a sling? I told everybody I fell off my horse and broke my collar bone, but I had actually been shot. If Felipe had not been taking care of me I would have died."

"Oh, yes, I thought you were such an idiot to injure yourself like that, falling off Esperanza. Are you all right now?"

He nodded. She pulled the other edge of the blanket over her shoulders and accommodated her head on his chest, hugging him like a purring cat pawing its comfy pillow. Diego smiled welcoming the close contact, and ran his fingers slowly through her hair, playing with it. It was heaven just to lie down there together, but he had to make a great effort not to go any further, to avoid any more… excitement.

"Yes. That's the general idea, to look like a fool most of the time," he said, staring into space while he continued to twist Cristina's shiny dark hair, lost in thought remembering some of the times he had to lie and play the fool. "And sometimes, I don't have to pretend, I can be an idiot all by myself, like before, in the river."

She giggled remembering his facial expression while he sat in the water.

"When are you going to tell your father that you are Zorro?" she asked after a while. "I don't know how you have been able to keep that secret from him for so long. He would be so proud of you, rather than being ashamed that you are such a wimp".

"I know he would, and that is part of the problem. You see, he would find it hard not to boast about it, and he may give it away unintentionally with that quick tongue of his, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. And, if I don't tell him, if I ever get caught, he can honestly say he didn't know it was me." Diego sighed. "No, it is better to keep him disappointed about me, it suits the situation better. Besides, I have been lying to him for so long, I don't even know how to tell him the truth now. He would be very cross to begin with, and then he would blame himself for all the doubts and all the harsh words he has used over the years. I don't know how to do it."

They lay on the blanket chatting and enjoying each other's company for quite a while before they returned to the hacienda. Cristina especially liked the way his deep voice vibrated in his chest, and the sound of his powerful heartbeats. She rejoiced at the thought that it would not be long before she could enjoy this —and much more— every night.

ZZZZZ


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 13 – Victoria comes back to Los Angeles**

Since Victoria left Los Angeles nearly three months ago she had only sent a letter to the De la Vegas telling them she was settling nicely in Monterey. But, the truth was she could die of boredom there. She hardly knew anybody and, because she didn't have a tavern to run and Juan spent long hours at work, she had a lot of spare time she didn't know how to use. She still didn't love Juan and their relationship was polite and correct, more like friendship, perhaps a little bit more passionate for Juan because he loved her. She wished his kisses could make her feel like Zorro's did.

Zorro should have been the person she would miss the most, but he wasn't. She surprised herself when she realized the person she missed the most was Diego, the one that had always been there for her. She missed their friendship, spending time with him, playing card and chess games with him, the long conversations, his piano lessons… she even missed his boring explanations of scientific experiments. Recently, she had been thinking about Zorro's last words to her, when he advised she should marry someone like Diego. She wondered if Zorro knew something that she didn't, that she would need social company and entertainment to be happy, in addition to love. If she had paid attention to those words before, the final result could have been quite similar, with a husband whom she liked, but she didn't love, but with an important difference: she would not feel so lonely, bored, and somehow neglected. Juan was out at work at the Naval Office for many hours a day, while Diego would have been at home and she would have been still busy in Los Angeles supervising the tavern. Her situation could only get worse if Juan was sent out to sea again. Her only joy was that she suspected she could be pregnant already. Children would keep her busy.

One morning Victoria got a letter from Diego. It was a formal invitation for his wedding. Rather than feeling happy for her friend, she felt a disturbing torrent of jealousy and envy, and a great sadness. It was the turning point for her, when she realized that the reason she missed him so much was because she loved him. She always had, in her own twisted way. She cried all day long because it was too late for them.

ZZZ

Karl Jäger and his team of ruthless bounty hunters were on their way to Los Angeles to hunt for Zorro and claim the 6000 pesos reward. He was the German leader of a bunch of killers who acted within the law, dispatching criminals with a price on their heads. Travelling all over North America, they were usually welcomed by the local authorities, who would turn a blind eye on their debauchery in return for help to get rid of their outlaws. The group would make sure they had hunted —and nearly every time that meant _killed_— all the criminals around an area before they would move on. That meant _all the criminals with a substantial reward to be paid_, otherwise they would not bother. They were known in some circles as _"the cleaners". _

The best skilled men for the job were the Russian brothers, Vladimir and Yuri, soldiers of the Don Cossack Host who had travelled to Alaska three years ago. They had fled their country after killing a member of the Denisov family, a noble man, in a dubious fight over a woman. As Cossacks soldiers they had to provide their own uniforms, horses and weapons, so when they got in trouble they boarded a ship in a hurry and travelled to Alaska on full soldier gear with all their military belongings. Initially, they settled at New Archangel and became sea otter hunters in the Russian fur trade business, but they didn't like it at all. They preferred to kill able men rather that defenceless animals, so they left Alaska and travelled down the coast searching for another occupation, also very keen to get away from any other Russians in case their past would catch up with them. In San Francisco, they came across the bounty hunters and were very eager to join them when they had the chance. Since then, they had learnt to speak English and Spanish and were the most dangerous men in the group.

ZZZ

The next day, when she had calmed down a little, Victoria told Juan about the letter.

"Juan, I got a letter from Don Diego de la Vega. It is an invitation for his wedding," she said, trying hard to keep a neutral tone.

"Don Diego is getting married? It was about time. His father will be pleased. Do you want to go? When is it?"

"In a month. Yes, I would like to go. And you?"

"In a month? So quickly? Maybe Don Diego has been a naughty boy! He didn't even have a girlfriend when we left, did he?" he said, laughing.

"I don't know," she said, with a higher pitch than she intended, blushing a bit with the innuendo.

"I thought the wedding would be much later than that. Sorry, I can't leave right now; we are very busy at the moment at the Naval Office. Would you like to go on your own?"

"How?"

"On the stagecoach, the same way as we came here. Sorry I cannot travel with you, but I know that you are quite bored here in Monterey. I think a few days in Los Angeles would be a good distraction for you, and you could use the time to sort out the situation with the tavern. I know you didn't have the time before because we moved out so quickly. What would you like to do with it? Sell it? Rent it?"

"I don't know. I still don't know what my brothers want to do. They haven't told me."

"All right, take it just as relaxing holidays then, and visit your friends. You told me before the De la Vegas have been like your family and Don Diego has been like a big brother to you. They will be pleased if you attend the wedding," he said, unaware of her change of heart. Otherwise, he would not have been so keen to let her go at all.

A few days later, Victoria found herself again in the stagecoach, this time on her own. She would have a few days ahead to think carefully before she arrived in Los Angeles, two weeks before the wedding. Unravelling the mixture of feelings she had for Zorro, Diego, and Juan, would be a very difficult task, but she promised herself that at least she would not let her feelings show when she met Diego again.

ZZZ

Diego had only been at the tavern a few times since Victoria left, one of them when he saw Cristina disguised as Leonardo for the first time. He used to spend a lot of time at the tavern just to see Victoria, but now there was no point in going there for several reasons: he didn't drink alcohol; didn't need to socialize that much as he was so busy with Cristina and the wedding; and the other women didn't cook as well as Victoria did. And, above all, _she _wasn't there anymore.

ZZZ

Victoria came out of the stagecoach and went straight into the tavern. Pilar and Alicia, who had been in charge of it since she left, were very pleased to see her.

"Victoria! What a surprise! What are you doing here?" Pilar said, coming out from behind the counter to greet her. She hugged and kissed her boss and friend. "How are you? I didn't know you were coming! Alicia, look who is here!"

Victoria was also happy to see them, but she was even happier to find out Diego was not at the tavern, so she could procrastinate a bit longer about talking to him without making a fool of herself by showing her new feelings.

ZZZ

The bounty hunters arrived at Los Angeles in the afternoon. Karl and the Russians went straight into the Alcalde's office, while the others headed towards the tavern.

"Mi Alcalde," announced Mendoza, "three gentlemen are here to see you. They look… _serious._"

"Serious? What do you mean by that, Mendoza? Who are they?"

"They say they are bounty hunters. They mean business, mi Alcalde."

"Bounty hunters, ah?" De Soto smiled, stroking his beard. Maybe they would be the answer to his prayers. "Let them in at once, Sergeant."

"_Sí, mi Alcalde, enseguida,_" Mendoza said, saluting with his hand and kicking his heals. He left and three men came into the office shortly after. De Soto stood up and saluted them. Mendoza was right: they looked serious, especially the two tall, good looking blonde ones, dressed with a long blue tunic and armed to the teeth.

"I am Ignacio De Soto, Alcalde de Los Angeles. What can I do for you?"

"I am Karl Jäger. I am here with my team of bounty hunters to capture Zorro and any other criminals in the area with a price on their heads," said the smallest and oldest of the three, who didn't bother to introduce the others. His accent was very thick and strong, and foreign. "We would like you to provide us with a free place to stay while we do that, and someone to cook and clean for us," he demanded.

"How long would it take you to apprehend Zorro?"

"Not long, hopefully. I am aware the local government has been trying for years, but we are experts in our trade, and you should agree with any of our demands if you want to have the job done."

De Soto was very impressed with the man's self-confident attitude. They talked for a while about what they would need, and De Soto agreed to most of their requirements because he was very eager for them to start as soon as possible.

ZZZ

Two weeks before the wedding, Diego went to the Newspaper's office in the pueblo to print the new issue. With an unusual move, he decided to go into the tavern first. An invitation to the wedding had been sent to Victoria and her husband but they had not replied yet, so he thought it would be worth asking Pilar if she knew anything about them. Even if he wanted to see Victoria, he wished that she would not be able to come because he was afraid it could be very disturbing to see her before the wedding. On arrival to the tavern, he told himself once again he didn't love her anymore, tied Esperanza to the rail and went inside, unaware that Victoria had arrived a few hours earlier in the stagecoach.

He approached the counter looking for Pilar, but he could not see her. Hearing some noises behind the counter he leaned over it to look at the other side. He saw a woman bent down dragging a heavy box of wine bottles.

"Can I help you with that?" he said, assuming it was Pilar who was struggling with the bottles.

"Oh, thank…" said the woman, standing up to face him. She didn't finish. She stood there stiff, blushing. "Diego! How nice to see you! How are you?" she finally said, after a few seconds, which seemed like years.

"Victoria! I didn't know you were here. When did you arrive?" Diego said, once he could make himself speak after the surprise. Victoria came out from behind the counter and approached him, hesitating for a moment before she hugged him. Diego felt a rush of suppressed feelings reappearing in an instant. _Oh… no… This is not good. Not now._

They sat down at one of the tables, chatting for a while, over-cheerfully, both pretending they were just the best friends in the world and nothing else.

"I am very sorry I wasn't there for your wedding, and also because I didn't get to say goodbye when you left," Diego apologized. Victoria held his hands to reassure him. The contact made him shiver.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault, it was mine. I should not have left in such a hurry. I was very sad I didn't get to see you either." She looked at her hands, realizing they had been holding his a little bit too long. She let go of them and stood up. "I will get us a drink. Lemonade?"

"Yes, thank you," he said, following her with tormented eyes when she walked to the kitchen.

ZZZ

Cristina came into the tavern disguised as Leonardo. She had promised Diego she would not get in trouble anymore and would not fence with anybody other than him, but she still wanted to exercise with her horse and play the male role as much as before, because she enjoyed it so much. She had seen Esperanza tied to the rail and she looked forward to surprising Diego as the Italian, but she was the startled one at that point. Inside the tavern she saw Diego talking to a beautiful woman, laughing a lot, and then holding hands. She felt a sudden pang of jealousy when she realized he cared deeply about her. She sat down at a table hiding behind a group of rough looking men, staring at the couple. The beautiful small woman stood up and went into the kitchen. She looked at ease in the tavern, so Cristina concluded the woman was Victoria, the one who ran away from Zorro. And from Diego, who was clearly still in love with her. Her jealousy escalated when she saw the way Diego was looking at Victoria as she walked away, so she decided to interfere. She walked resolutely towards the kitchen, passing close to Diego without looking at him.

"_Buona sera, signorina,_" the Italian said, touching his brim, bowing to Victoria when she came out of the kitchen. Cristina knew she should not wear her hat indoors because it was impolite, but she always did to make it harder for anyone to recognize her. So far, nobody had ever told her anything, but maybe they didn't dare. "Your beauty is torturing my heart. Who are you? _Sei bellissima_!"

Victoria was baffled about the intentions of this stranger, who stood in her way and moved with her every time she tried to go around him to go back to Diego's table. She didn't know anything about the mysterious Italian, because she had not had the chance to find out about all the gossip in town since she left.

"I am Victoria Ortiz, the owner of this tavern, and I would appreciate if you could move out of my way, please," she finally said, sternly.

"Of course, _signorina, scusi._" The Italian bowed again, drawing a wide arch with his hand, following the path towards Diego, who was looking at him shamefully, biting his lip, flushing red. "Oh, I see, you are drinking with _il mio caro amico_ Diego," he added, following Victoria to their table.

"Diego, naughty little rascal, you didn't tell me there were such _belle donne_ in Los Angeles," he joked, elbowing Diego, pushing him aside so he could shamelessly sit down at their table uninvited. "What's that? Oh, lemonade, my favourite, _grazie mile." _

The Italian took the jar and the glass from Victoria's perplexed hands, serving himself to drink the whole glass at once. Victoria gaped at him, shocked at his cheekiness and his lack of manners, while Diego looked at him horrified.

"Who the hell are you?" she finally said, sitting down, so angry her good manners were forgotten. She tolerated the stranger at the table just because it looked as if he knew Diego.

"I am Leonardo DiCaprio, _signorina_, at your service. I am a good friend of Diego, a special friend," the Italian said, placing his arm around Diego's wide shoulders, shaking his whole body enthusiastically. Diego tried to smile, embarrassed. While shaking him, Cristina pinched Diego hard in the trapezius muscle, where she knew it would hurt, and he jolted in pain while still smiling. "He is the best, isn't he?" she finished, ruffling his hair to a mess.

"How did you two meet?" Victoria asked, getting more and more perplexed. She had never seen Diego so friendly with any other man.

"Oh, we met here a while ago. The poor thing was very sad that day after his _girlfriend_ left without saying goodbye," the Italian said in a pathetic, sad voice, shaking his head. Victoria blushed at that point, and Cristina loved it. "But he is all sorted now. He is getting married in less than two weeks. Isn't it great? His broken heart has been mended by a very special lady," the Italian added, ruffling Diego's hair again.

After this, Cristina had enough of the charade. She thought she was going to burst into tears if she didn't leave.

"Nice to meet you, Victoria. I have to go. _Ciao_. I will see you later, _much_ later," she said, her eyes throwing daggers at Diego. She walked out of the tavern very quickly, with her particular smooth pace, jumped on her horse and galloped away, fighting the tears.

"Don't pay attention to him, Victoria. He is crazy. He is Italian," Diego said, smiling weakly when he recovered from the shock, as if that would explain everything the stranger said and his behaviour. "Are you coming to the wedding?"

Victoria nodded, still speechless. She was delighted to discover Diego had been interested in her, at least in the past.

"Perfect. I will see you there. Or sooner… You should come round for dinner sometime. Sorry, I have to go now. Goodbye."

He stood up and left the tavern in a hurry. On his way out he saw a group of men talking loudly at one of the tables. They looked quite menacing and they carried a lot of weapons with them, but he didn't pay much attention because he didn't have the time.

Diego was following Cristina shortly after, riding Esperanza very hard, making the mare run as never before to catch up with the Italian's horse.

ZZZ

"Who's that man in such a hurry?" said Karl, coming out of the Alcalde's office in time to see Diego galloping away as if possessed by the devil.

"That one? That's Don Diego de la Vega. Maybe he forgot one of his stupid experiments running at home and the house is about to blow up," De Soto sniggered. "I met him at University at Madrid. Don't worry about him, he is equally harmless and useless, quite a jerk".

"A jerk, ah?" he mused. _A useless jerk doesn't have such balance over a horse._ He had a look at the pages from the Alcalde. Besides Zorro, the list had only five more bandits with a price on their heads in that area, because the masked man efforts to bring any criminals to justice kept that list quite small.

"Mendoza! Take these gentlemen to my empty property by the river. They will stay there until they capture Zorro. And tell corporal Márquez to stay there with them. He will cook and clean for them," De Soto ordered, quite excited about the prospect of Zorro being finally captured. The soldier would keep an eye on the bounty hunters while they stayed at his house. Besides, he didn't trust them to send a woman alone to the house; he didn't want any added problems.

"_Sí, mi Alcalde. Ahora mismo_".

ZZZ

A couple of miles away from the pueblo Cristina realized Diego was following her. She was even more upset and angry with him when she saw the way he was pushing the mare, which was naturally slower than her horse, and much older. She slowed down _Perseo_ to a halt and turned around, waiting for him.

"What are you doing? You are going to break her, she is not Toronado!" she barked at him when he stopped beside her.

"I know, and I am sorry," he said patting the mare, which was snorting, blowing and breathing very fast due to the effort, with a worrying harsh noise coming from her chest, "but I have to talk to you," he said, jumping off Esperanza. He held Cristina's reins, waiting for her to dismount.

"There is nothing to talk about. You love her, it is too obvious. Let me go," she said, pulling the reins to turn around while pushing the flanks with her heels. Diego held the reins firmly in place.

"No, we need to talk. Please, come down."

She groaned, furious, before she jumped off from the stirrups, leaping over the horse like a professional jockey.

"What? What do you want?"

"You have the right to be jealous, Cristina. I am sorry. I have to admit it, I still have feelings for Victoria," he said, distressed, with a broken voice. Cristina slapped his face very hard, leaving a bright red mark, and walked quickly away from him, fighting back the tears.

"Wait!" he called, but she ignored him. He followed her and grabbed her by the left elbow. "Wait."

She turned around and tried to slap him again, but he held her hand firmly by the wrist.

"Please, let me explain," he said, holding her by the elbow and the other wrist while she tried to get away from him. "I love you. I want to marry you, I really do. I am stunned to discover I still love Victoria… but I do, I can't help it," he said with great sorrow.

She was fighting like a wild animal now, wriggling to get away from his strong grip, with tears flooding down her cheeks. He was holding her so firmly that it hurt, his fingers digging into her flesh. Without thinking, she pulled up her knee, hitting Diego very hard on his groin, a movement that she had used so many times before when fighting with men. He cried out, astounded by the unexpected blow and the sudden pang of pain. Releasing her, he bent down, dropping to the ground in agony.

"Why?" he cried pitifully, curled up in a ball with his eyes closed. But she didn't know why. It was an automatic reflex, a rehearsed flowing motion to use when overwhelmed by a stronger man in a hand to hand fight.

"I am sorry, Diego, I didn't mean to kick you, but you were hurting me. It was a reflex. I use that all the time to get away from the thugs when they grab me… you know that," she said, upset, kneeling down close to him, touching his shoulder to comfort him. He shook it to get away from her, refusing the contact, while puffing quickly to endure the pain like a woman in labour. She stood up, silently crying a river by his side. Knowing that a blow to the testicles caused an excruciating pain that didn't last too long, she left him alone to recover on his own time.

When the pain started to ease he stopped panting and opened his eyes to look at her. Blinking, he asked again.

"Why? Why did you kick me?"

"I told you I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. You were hurting me, and I reacted on instinct. Are you all right?" she said, offering her hand. He hesitated, in case she was thinking on dropping him half way as he had done before to her. Finally he took it, and she helped him up without any tricks. Unable to stand up straight he stood there still bended at the waist.

"No, I am not. It hurts… so much. Don't do that again, ever. To anybody," he said with a weak smile. "If I didn't love you, I would be very inclined to kill you right now."

"Kill me then, so you won't need to worry about me, only about your precious Victoria!" she said, disdainful, still crying.

"You are not listening! I can't cope with this right now."

He started to walk towards Esperanza, limping noticeably. He wondered how he was going to be able to ride a horse hurting like he was.

"I am listening," she said, wiping away the tears with both hands.

Diego was glad he could stay a bit longer before attempting to ride. He limped back to her.

"All right, I will start again. I am very sorry I made you cry, but I was trying to be honest," he said, pausing for a moment, thinking carefully about the next set of words. "I thought I didn't love Victoria anymore, but I still do. It doesn't change anything. I love _you_ now, but I will need a bit more time to forget about her. I realize that now. I am sorry. Less than four months have passed since she left—it is not enough. I've been in love with her for many years."

"What do you want me to do then?" she asked, softly, coming closer to him.

"Nothing. Just bear with me, give me time. She doesn't know I'm Zorro, anyway, and she doesn't love me as Diego. She never did, she is just my friend, so you shouldn't look at her as a rival." He walked a couple of unsteady steps towards Cristina and hugged her. She clung onto him, crying again, burying her face on his chest. "I just need more time. Just give me time," he repeated, whispering in her ear.

He reached into his pocket for his expensive laced handkerchief, and offered it to Cristina when she broke the embrace, helping her to wipe her tears off.

"We will be fine, don't worry," he said, kissing her forehead.

ZZZZZ


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 14 – The bounty hunters**

"Who is that Italian man who sat at our table?" Victoria asked Pilar when both men were gone. "He was way too weird."

"Isn't he handsome?" said Pilar, who —like many other women in the pueblo— found the Italian very attractive. "Oh, Victoria, you missed all the gossip. His name is Leonardo DiCaprio. He beat the Alcalde in a sword fight because he didn't want to pay the traveller's tax. Fantastic swordsman, the Alcalde lost his new sabre in seconds! He also fought three men right here in the tavern because they laughed when he drank a glass of milk."

"A what?" Just as Pilar did, she never had a customer asking for milk.

"A glass of milk. I think he asked for it on purpose so he could challenge someone. It was hilarious the way he beat those men. He is very mysterious, he comes and goes and has been helping Zorro sometimes. When the Alcalde got mad, throwing Don Alejandro and his friend in jail, he helped Zorro to get them out. We have another hero in Los Angeles!"

"Really? He doesn't look like a hero to me, more like a nutter."

"Well, he is, probably both. I could be talking about him for hours. Nobody knows where he lives, or what he does for a living. He is a kind of a "Zorro figure" but without the mask".

"He said he is Don Diego's friend."

"He could be. He is very friendly and loud. Certainly a contrast for Don Diego who, by the way, was sulking for a while when you left," Pilar said, winking, lowering her voice to continue with the gossip. "Everybody noticed that. I think he liked you, a lot." Victoria was very pleased with this piece of information, and tried very hard not to blush. "But he must be over you now because he is getting married to this gorgeous woman, the daughter of Don Alejandro's friend."

"Is she really that beautiful?" Victoria said, with a hint of jealousy betraying her voice.

"Very. So much, that it should be illegal," Pilar said, laughing. She went to the other side of the counter to serve a client, leaving Victoria mulling over her words.

Victoria went back to the kitchen to prepare her speciality: _sopa de albóndigas_. Since she had left the tavern, clients had complained that the soup was not the same if she didn't cook it, making her very proud of her culinary skills. That activity would do to make her feel better about herself, at least for a while.

ZZZ

Since they arrived at Los Angeles the bounty hunters had been very busy tracking the bandits. Two days after collecting the list of wanted criminals from the Alcalde's office they returned to the pueblo with three dead bodies lying in a cart. The horse thieves had been shot several times at close range; they showed similar wounds to those who had been shot by a firing squad.

"Alcalde, we got the Margollés brothers. I believe you owe us 1000 pesos for each one of them," Karl Jäger said.

"_Los hermanos Margollés_? That quickly? My lancers had been trying to catch them for a few months now," De Soto said, very impressed with the German's efficiency. He turned the bodies over to check their faces, realizing the amount of times they had been hit.

"Yes, that's them. But, tell me, was it really necessary to shoot them so many times?" he asked, disgusted.

"Yes, of course. You don't want them to run away, do you? And the notice said _"Dead or alive"_ so, what do you care?" Karl said, imperturbable, with his eyes lacking emotion, dark and cold like the eyes of a shark.

Victoria was at the tavern door listening to the conversation, feeling very upset by it and by the dead men on display. She felt a shudder running up her spine thinking that Zorro would be lying in that cart pretty soon if the killers could get hold of him.

Diego was also listening from the newspaper office and, for the first time, he felt truly in danger. Those men would try to shoot Zorro on sight, no doubt about it, and they were actively looking for him. But he didn't have the intention to come out in the open before the wedding and he would be away on his honeymoon for a month afterwards, so at least he would be safe for a while.

After the Alcalde gave the reward money to the German leader the group headed towards the tavern. Scared and disgusted by them, Victoria came inside quickly when she saw them approaching. Although a few customers were still in the tavern she tried to lock the door behind her, but she didn't have the time. The bounty hunters flung the door open pushing her away, stepping inside, eager to get drunk.

"Woman, bring us some wine!" ordered the German addressing Victoria, while they all sat at the largest table in the tavern.

"Thank you, _señorita_!" said another one after Victoria left a couple of jars and ten glasses on the table. He slapped her bottom when she passed by close to him, making her jump. She turned around to speak, but she stopped herself and came back to the counter, humiliated and scared. They roared with laughter.

They kept drinking and asking for more wine. Every time she approached them she had to dodge their advances, until she could not take it any longer.

"You had enough to drink today. I suggest you leave my tavern now," she said with a shaky distressed voice, trying to be firm, but she was too scared and they knew it. They started to laugh again, very amused. One of them grabbed her and made her sit on his lap, forcing a kiss, making his way into her mouth while the others cheered and whistled loudly. She struggled, trying to scream, finding the contact utterly revolting.

"Leave the _señorita_ alone!" Diego said, pulling Victoria's arm, lifting her away from that man. He had come into the tavern fearing something like that would happen.

The thug held Victoria firmly by her waist, laughing at Diego.

"Piss off, and mind your own business! The _señorita _is having a good time here," he said, pulling Victoria closer again.

Diego knocked him down with a sudden, unexpected hard punch to his face. He quickly pushed Victoria towards the door, shouting:

"Get the soldiers!"

The other killers stood up, surrounding him. She ran outside while the German leader drew a gun, pointing with it to Diego's face.

"We are going to tear you apart, scumbag," he said, with a vicious smile.

"I am not armed," Diego said, putting his hands up slowly.

"In that case, neither are we," he said, withdrawing the gun when he realized there would be no excuse to kill an unarmed caballero like that —he would be accused of murder. But the man deserved to be punished. "Get him!"

Two men grabbed Diego from behind, holding his arms, while another two started to deliver punches and hard blows to his face and abdomen. He struggled to get away from their grip, managing to kick one of the attackers away, but he was overwhelmed by them. They dropped him on the floor and started kicking him all over while he curled up in a ball trying to protect his head, unable to do anything else.

"Stop that!" De Soto shouted, coming into the tavern with a bunch of soldiers. "As much as I would enjoy watching a De la Vega in a fist fight, I don't think ten to one is a fair match, señor Jäger."

"He started it! He attacked one of my men!" Karl said, pointing at the unconscious man who lay across the table. The men started to move away from Diego, who stayed on the floor, curled up and bleeding.

"Don Diego was protecting me, alcalde. That man molested me," saidVictoria, who was hiding behind the soldiers.

"I think it would be better for everybody if you take your men back to your quarters, señor Jäger. I don't want any problems in the pueblo while you are here," De Soto said.

"Very well, Alcalde. Boys, get a few bottles and let's go home to party."

Yuri grabbed the unconscious man to carry him to his horse while the others grabbed a couple of bottles each, and headed to the door. One of the men talked to Victoria when he walked by her.

"_Adiós, preciosa._ I'll see you later."

The others roared with laughter when Victoria cringed. Once they were outside, she ran to Diego's side.

"Diego. Diego, are you all right?" she asked, shaking him gently.

"Yes… well… no… not really…" he said, uncurling, trying to sit up. He was badly bruised and his nose was bleeding profusely.

"Oh, Don Diego… Madre de Dios! Look at you…" Mendoza said.

"Diego, I didn't know you were so brave… or so stupid… fighting them all on your own," De Soto said, shaking his head, helping Diego up aided by Mendoza. They sat Diego on the closest bench. "They are killers, in case you haven't noticed."

"Yes, Ignacio, pretty stupid, ah?" Diego said pinching his nose, holding his head back. He hoped not his nose neither his ribs were broken.

"I will get the Doctor," Mendoza said, walking out quickly. He returned shortly after with the doctor, who was at home in town.

Doctor Hernández examined Diego in the kitchen.

"You are very lucky, Don Diego. You are covered in bruises, but nothing is broken, your ribs are fine. There is no concussion; you covered your head quite well. You will be all right, just take it easy for a few days. If you don't feel well and have pain in your abdomen, let me know."

He looked suspiciously at his firm abdominal muscles which had protected his internal organs quite nicely, and at his fresh scars in the chest and back, but he didn't say anything.

"Thank you, doctor, I will," Diego said, doing up his blood-stained shirt quickly because De Soto was approaching them again.

"Diego, would you be all right to ride back home? Should I send for a carriage?" he asked.

"I will be fine, thank you. I just want to rest here for a while before I go. I am a bit dizzy".

"Very well. Let me know if you need anything. Mendoza!" he barked, and the sergeant followed him out of the tavern like his dog, as usual.

ZZZ

Victoria was very affected by the events, and she didn't want to continue serving in the tavern. She had given the day off to Pilar and Alicia, so she walked to the door when everybody except Diego had left, locking it closed.

"Diego, thank you very much for standing up for me. I was so scared," she said, coming back to Diego's side, shaking. He wanted to hold her and comfort her, but he didn't dare to test himself in that close contact.

"So was I. But there was nobody else to do it. As the Alcalde said, I was very stupid."

"No, I think you were very brave," she said, staring at him.

"Well, you are all right now, nothing happened to you. It was worth it," he said, trying to smile.

Victoria felt overwhelmed with gratitude and suddenly kissed Diego on his swollen lips. He was very surprised by her reaction, and even more when she kissed him again, this time giving him time to respond, as he did, holding her tight. He pulled back when he remembered she was married and that he was about to marry someone else.

"This is wrong, Victoria," he finally said, fighting his will to kiss her again.

"I am so sorry, Diego," she said, starting to cry, distressed. "I don't know why I did that, I shouldn't. I have realized too late that I love you, and I think you loved me too before. Why didn't you tell me anything, Diego? Why did you let me marry Juan without speaking up?"

Diego was flabbergasted with this unexpected revelation, and it took him a while to answer back.

"I am sorry, Victoria. I never told you anything because you were in love with Zorro. I was heartbroken when you left; I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye, or tell you how much I loved you before you got married in a rush. The truth is, I was going to ask you to marry me, but you chose Juan before I had the chance. But I am happy now. I love Cristina, and I am going to marry her. Please, don't cry, I hate to see you crying."

She was weeping then, and he tried to clean her tears with his thumb, but she moved her head away.

"It is too late for us now, so I beg you, please don't interfere with my happiness."

She turned around and ran away from him, sobbing grief-stricken and ashamed of herself. She got to the street and slammed the door behind her, heading for the church.

It was difficult for Diego not to go after her, but he refrained himself because he knew that otherwise he could end up overwhelmed and trying to kiss her again, making matters even worse. After all that time of unrequited love she had finally confessed that she loved _him_, not Zorro, but it was too late. He sighed deeply. For a second, he regretted being Catholic rather than to profess any other religion that would have allowed him to have several wives. His heart was seriously torn between the two women. What the two spirited ladies would have thought about the prospect of sharing him was another matter.

ZZZZZ


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 15 – The kidnapping plan**

"Oh my God! What happened to you, Diego?" Don Alejandro said when he saw his son arriving home with his clothes covered in blood stains, bruised and battered.

Dismounting was a difficult task for Diego, with his whole body aching, but he eventually managed in slow motion. Felipe took Esperanza's reins with eyes wide open, full of questions.

"The bounty hunters… They molested Victoria in the tavern and I got on the way. Probably they thought I was a punching bag." Although he tried to laugh, his attempt for irony didn't work.

"Is Victoria all right? Did you really get in a fist fight with them? All of them? How?"

"Yes, she is fine, a bit shaken but unharmed."

"What about you? Are you all right, Son? Did you see a doctor?" He didn't like the way Diego was walking wearily, holding his side with his right hand.

"Yes, doctor Hernández had a look at me; he said nothing is broken, although it feels like it. I just need to rest, doctor's orders," he said, heading slowly towards his room.

"Yes, Diego, do that, go to bed. Call if you need anything," Don Alejandro said, patting his back. Knowing his son, he knew it would be pointless to ask him for more details because he always kept to himself, so he decided to go and check on Victoria instead.

ZZZ

On arrival to the pueblo he found the tavern closed. He knocked on the door calling for her until she finally opened it, letting him in.

"Victoria, are you all right? Diego arrived home in a state, all battered, but he didn't give me much details of what really happened before he went to his room to rest."

"Yes, Don Alejandro, I am fine, thanks to your son. He was very brave, facing the bounty hunters when they molested me. If he had not been there I don't know what would have happened." Tears came running down her cheeks again.

"It's all right Victoria, don't cry, you are safe now," he said, holding her, while she cried on his shoulder.

"I was so scared… that man grabbed me, and… he… he… Diego punched him… It was awful! I left to get help, and when we came back they had beaten Diego up so badly… Is he all right?"

Although he was quite worried himself, he tried to reassure her.

"I think so. He will be sore for a few days, but he should be all right, don't worry. Victoria, I don't like the idea of you being here alone this evening. Maybe you should come to the hacienda and stay there as a guest. After all, you came back to Los Angeles for the wedding, didn't you?"

"Yes… no… I also came to sort out the situation with the tavern," she lied. "Thank you, but I can't stay in your house." Because she was so ashamed of her own behaviour, she could not bear the thought of being so close to Diego and to see him every day.

"Don't be silly, of course you can. Pilar and Alicia can carry on handling the tavern for you. Grab a few things, you are coming with me now."

"But… but…" _No, you don't understand. He won't be happy to see me!_

"No buts. I would not forgive myself if anything happens to you because you were left here alone. I don't think anybody in the pueblo is safe while those men are around."

In the end, she gave in, because she was really scared of being on her own.

ZZZ

Cristina arrived at the Hacienda de la Vega in the morning to check on Diego. She had heard the news and was anxious about the whole issue with the bounty hunters, in case they would suspect he could be Zorro. Coming into the main room, she was very surprised to find Victoria sitting quietly with Don Alejandro, waiting for Diego to show up. Cristina had to make an effort to conceal any signs that she had seen Victoria before, or that she knew who that pretty little lady was, which was a difficult task because finding her rival there was very unsettling.

"Cristina, how are you?" Don Alejandro said. "Cristina, this is Victoria Ortiz, a friend of the family. She is the one Diego was trying to protect at the tavern. Victoria, this is Cristina Blasco, _la novia de Diego._"

When she saw the guilt and the uneasiness in Victoria's eyes, Cristina had to make use of a lifetime of training on keeping the composure, so she would not slap her.

"Nice to meet you. How are you?" Cristina said with the friendlier voice she could manage, which was just above a plain, cold tone.

"Fine, thank you. Nice to meet you too." _Oh, gosh, she is really as beautiful as they say. No wonder he has fallen in love with her!_

The two women gazed at each other for a while without talking, measuring the opponent up. The moment was broken when Diego appeared at the library. His face was swollen and bruised, with many different purple shades on display, especially around his nose and his right eye. Both women gasped when they saw him in such a state. Startled, he also gasped at the sight of them together in that room.

"Diego, how are you? You look awful!" Cristina said, walking towards him. She kissed him lightly in his swollen lips, in a gesture to mark _her_ property. Accusing eyes looked at Victoria as the cause of the damage, with a clear message of_"Hands off. He is mine."_ Victoria felt so guilty she had to look down at the floor, blushing.

"I am all right, thank you, don't worry. I will look like a plum for a few days, but I should be fine for the wedding," he said, with a light tone. "Victoria, are you all right? What are you doing here?"

"I am fine, thank you, Diego. Your father asked me to stay as a guest. Well, actually, he dragged me here," she added also on a light tone, trying to excuse herself.

"Diego, I didn't want her to stay at the tavern on her own. Those men are very dangerous. I hope they go away soon," Don Alejandro said. "They are nothing but trouble."

"I hope they go away without capturing Zorro," Cristina said, looking at Diego intently.

"Yes, let's hope that," Diego agreed, quietly.

ZZZ

The bounty hunters arrived at the pueblo on Sunday morning right after mass, while the faithful were coming out of church. Another two dead bandits were on display in the cart. This time, they had been shot in the back. Everybody could see them in the plaza, because Karl had chosen the moment to make a statement.

"Señor Jäger, I believe your methods for capturing criminals are not improving," De Soto said when he saw the gunshot wounds.

"What do you mean, Alcalde? You asked for them dead or alive. So here they are: _dead_. You owe me another 3000 pesos."

"Every person deserves a fair trial!" Don Alejandro shouted. "You should capture them and bring them to justice! Not murder them like this!"

"If they run away it means they are guilty. No need to bother with a trial," Karl said.

"No. It means they are scared of you and you methods. How many men have you killed since you arrived, rather than bringing them to justice _alive_?" Don Francisco said, with his blood boiling inside his veins. If someone like the ruthless German would had been in Spain when he was accused of treason, he would be dead.

"Just five. Zorro will be the last one here and we will go away," the German boasted. The crowd booed at him, outraged.

"If you get him!" shouted someone, followed by some cheers.

"You will never get him!" shouted another voice.

"Yes, we will!" Karl said. _You'll see, stupid rabble. You'll see. We will get him._

De Soto walked into his office to collect the reward money for the bounty hunters. He was disgusted by their methods, but he was looking forward for them to capture Zorro, so he could return to Spain on the next available ship.

In the meantime, Mendoza and three other soldiers carried the bodies to the garrison's jail, while the bandits' burial place could be arranged at the cemetery. Arriving at the jail, Mendoza struggled to open the lock in that particular cell door, one that had not been used for a long time. The lock was old and rusty, and it took him a while to turn the key. The Sergeant rattled with the key and shook the bars at the door, frustrated, producing a loud noise that annoyed De Soto's delicate hearing.

"What is this infernal noise?" he asked, coming into the jail just when Mendoza had managed to open the lock.

"This lock, mi alcalde. It is too rusty. I could not open it."

"Too rusty? Don't be silly, Sergeant, just put some oil in it and it will be fine."

He came into the cell after the soldiers to check on the bodies again.

_That German has no honour. It is a disgrace the way he killed these bandits, with so many shots in the back. But, if he gets me Zorro, I will not complain._ He stood there contemplating his own promising future, the one he could imagine for himself once that Zorro's cold, lifeless body would be resting in that very same cell. Hopefully, quite soon.

Mendoza poured some oil in the rusty old lock and closed the door to try the key again, while De Soto was still inside the cell. The lock was stuck, just as before, and the Sergeant rattled the key a few times, in vain.

"Mendoza! What are you doing? Open that door immediately!" De Soto barked.

"I am trying, mi alcalde, but I can't. It's stuck again," Mendoza said nervously, with sweat droplets appearing quickly on his forehead.

"Give me that key, _imbécil!_" the Alcalde demanded, grabbing it from Mendoza's shaky hands. He didn't fancy staying in that cell with two dead bodies, not at all. Despite his confidence, De Soto also struggled to open the lock, twisting the key so forcibly that, in the end, it snapped inside the keyhole. He shouted and cursed, kicking the door and shaking its bars furiously.

"MENDOZA! OPEN THIS DOOR AT ONCE!"

The Sergeant gulped and retreated cautiously, whispering a sensible: "I am going to get the farrier, mi alcalde. It won't take long, _sólo un momentito_. Sit down and relax… Madre de Dios!" He ran out to the street, and half way to his destination he could still hear the angry yelling with colourful insults coming from the jail.

ZZZ

The following day, Cristina and Diego went for a ride late in the morning. Considering how bad he looked like initially, Diego had recovered quite well, and a week after the beating he was nearly back to normal. Or at least, his body was. His mind and heart were still a big mess, engaged in a constant dispute over the _objects_ of his affections. His head had declared Cristina as the obvious winner, but, on the other hand, his heart kept saying _but_… And there were so many "_buts_" to attend to.

Cristina, painfully aware of his unusual absent-mindedness and trouble, knew perfectly well the cause. That morning, quite upset with the situation, which was out of her control, she pushed her horse ahead and let Diego follow her. That way, she hoped it would be easy to wipe off any stranded tears before he could see them.

Shortly after, they reached a dense woodland area. While cantering on a narrow path, Cristina encountered a fallen tree across it and she jerked the horse with a weird lateral movement to go around rather than jumping over it.

"Why did you go around that trunk like that? You could jump over it quite easily," Diego said, advancing parallel to her when they reached a wider part on the path.

"I don't like jumping," she replied, evasive. At that point, she didn't feel like talking about anything, especially horse-jumping.

"I guess jumping is more difficult with a sidesaddle. What about the Italian? Does he jump?"

"No, if he can avoid it."

"I can't believe this, the fearless Leonardo doesn't like to jump!" he teased. "I usually jump with Toronado over the ravine when the soldiers are chasing Zorro. They never follow me."

"See? I am not the only one who doesn't like it."

"I am talking about a ravine, not a little trunk on the ground. You know where it is, we have been riding around there before."

"Yes, and I think it is irresponsible to do that. It is too dangerous."

"Never had a problem but, after all, I am riding Toronado," he winked. "I would not try it with Esperanza, but I bet your Perseo would be capable to jump over it."

"We will never know. I am not going to try."

"I don't want you to try! I'm just wondering if he would, that's all."

On the way back to the hacienda Diego was wondering about the reason for her apprehension, while Cristina remembered the time when she had the bad fall which caused her irrational fear for jumping. She didn't like to talk about it because she felt too embarrassed. As Diego had pointed out, the Italian should be _fearless_, but he wasn't.

ZZZ

Meanwhile, Vladimir overheard a conversation about Victoria. Two women were gossiping about how she got away from Zorro to get married, and how inappropriate it was for Zorro's ex-lover to be back in the pueblo on her own without her husband. A sly smile formed in the Russian's face when he realized the importance of this piece of information.

"I know how to make Zorro come to us," he said to Karl. "We have to kidnap the tavern wench. She was his lover."

The German didn't know about Victoria's past and was gladly surprised. That would be a good idea to set a trap for Zorro.

"Yes, that may work. I will talk to the Alcalde."

Coming across the street to enter De Soto's office, Karl didn't pay any attention to the young man who was looking at them, the one who had been reading the movements of their lips. Felipe, looking casual and calmed despite his agitation, walked away to reach his pinto horse, and rode home as fast as he could to tell Diego. He found him in the library, talking to Cristina. He called Diego apart to tell him Karl's plan while Cristina looked at them, frowning suspiciously from the other room.

"They are going to kidnap Victoria? Are you sure?"

Felipe nodded.

"And the German is now in the Alcalde's office?"

Felipe nodded again, signing he didn't know why.

"I guess he is going to tell him about the trap for Zorro, so he doesn't interfere. Do you know when are they planning to do it? Today?"

Felipe shook his head, shrugging his shoulders.

"I am going to have to convince the Alcalde kidnapping Victoria is not a good idea, and that he should protect her."

Felipe nodded again in agreement.

"Cristina, I have to go now," Diego said coming back to her to the other room, looking distressed. "I will see you later."

"Where are you going? You promised you would not show up at the pueblo as Zorro while the bounty hunters are around. Are you breaking that promise? Why do you have to go?" she asked, feeling an unbearable mixture of anger and anxiety.

"They are planning on kidnapping Victoria. I have to stop it before it happens." He didn't like the suspicious, upset look in Cristina's eyes. "I would go for anybody else, but especially for her. I feel responsible because I put her in danger when I fell in love with her as Zorro."

"Diego, if you are going, I am going. There is no point in arguing."

"But…"

"No buts. You know that, unless you tie me to a post, I will follow you."

He sighed, giving up. She was so stubborn, that statement was probably right.

"I don't want you to get hurt. These men are dangerous. They shoot on sight, so they won't give you time to use your sword. And you don't want to be shot, believe me. If you really have to come after me, please just follow us from the distance. Don't go in the middle of it, please. Promise me that."

"I will try, but I can't promise you anything. I don't want you to get hurt either." _And I don't want you to be alone with her, even for a second._

"I am going to convince the alcalde to protect Victoria rather than to go along with the plan. Hopefully they won't see me and I will be back here within an hour. If they chase me, I will try to lose them jumping over the ravine. Don't get on their way, please. I feel very tempted to tie you up in the cave."

"I know you do. Take care, dodge all the bullets," she said, kissing him goodbye as if it was the last time. _Please, come back to me_, she wished, closing her eyes and clenching her fists, shaking. She could not bear the thought that Diego could choose Victoria, even risk his life for her. The moment Diego and Felipe disappeared behind the fireplace, she headed home, determined. No time to waste.

ZZZ

"Alcalde, long time no see," Zorro said, approaching him silently from behind, placing his blade across his neck, below his jaw.

"Zorro! What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Shhh… We don't want anybody to hear us, do we?" Zorro said, lowering his voice. "I am a ghost, and I can walk through walls." De Soto nearly believed him at that.

"What do you want?"

"I heard about the bounty hunters' plan to kidnap Victoria. I want you to reconsider that agreement. She doesn't deserve to be used like that. Besides, her husband is very well connected; he won't like it if anything happens to her."

"How do you know about this? Karl just told me a while ago."

"I know everything. I hear everything like the ghost I am. Promise you will protect Victoria and I will go. Tell them their plan won't work, because I already know about it."

"But—"

At that moment, Karl Jäger came back into the Alcalde's office to tell him they were planning to kidnap Victoria that afternoon, while she was at the tavern. He froze when he saw Zorro behind De Soto.

"Help me!" De Soto cried right before Zorro hit his head hard with his sword's hilt.

The German reached for his gun while Zorro jumped over the Alcalde's unconscious body, getting there in time to hit the gun away with his sword. The loud bang was heard by the bounty hunters outside the office.

"It's Zorro!" the German cried before he encountered Zorro's fist.

Vladimir came into the office in time to see the masked man climbing up to the roof through the window in the ceiling. He followed him alerting the others, who looked for him from the street. Zorro ran over the roof tiles toward the end of the row while whistling to Toronado. The horse came at once, running parallel to the back of the houses, making possible for Zorro to jump on the saddle from the roof while running, without stopping.

The killers shot Zorro while he galloped away, but they missed the fast moving target. Then, they mounted on their horses, following him like a pack of wolves.

ZZZ

Before she changed into Leonardo's clothes, Cristina primed a couple of guns taken from his father's collection, and took some balls and gunpowder with her. As Diego said, they would probably shoot them rather than attack them with their swords.

When she got ready disguised as the Italian, she came back to the pueblo to find out if the killers were chasing Zorro or not, looking for their tracks. She found a wide track with multiple prints that could have only been left behind by a large group of horses at full gallop, which she followed away from the pueblo.

ZZZZZ


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 16 - The Cossack cavalry charge**

Toronado jumped over the ravine as he had done so many times before, landing perfectly on the other side, and he continued galloping away from the pursuers. The first of the bounty hunters to arrive at the gap hesitated, and his horse, sensing the rider's fear, halted abruptly at the edge throwing him over its head. The man flew into the void in the ravine, screaming with terror all the way down to the bottom. The others, including the German leader, stopped at the edge, scared, but not the Russians.

"Get off the way!" Vladimir shouted.

He went back a short distance and turned again to face the ravine while the other men moved their horses away from the gap. The Cossack spurred his horse, which galloped fast toward the ravine, jumping neatly over the void. Shortly after, his brother Yuri followed him. They continued to chase Zorro while the others came around to follow the much longer way to cross over without risking their lives.

Zorro galloped away trying to get rid of the Russians, who had no trouble following him. They were riding the _Don_ Cossack horses they had brought with them all the way to Alaska and then to California, a horse breed that was famous worldwide for their endurance and stamina. Toronado was getting tired of the sustained fast pace, but the other two horses seemed to be unaffected by the strenuous effort. Zorro was zigzagging and circling around the area, walking over rocks and hard soil, hoping he could throw them off his trail, but to no avail. He finally aimed back to the ravine with the intention to come back to the cave if he could get enough distance ahead to open the secret door before they could see him.

When they were close to the ravine, only 50 meters to the jump, Toronado was so tired that he tripped over a large stone, falling on his knees. Zorro fell off over Toronado's head, rolling on the ground trying to get back on his feet as fast as possible.

Realizing the man in black had become an easy target, the Cossacks quickly drew their _shaskas_ —the traditional curved sabre they used for slaughtering their enemies while on horseback— and charged against him.

ZZZ

Cristina was following the tracks Zorro and his pursuers had left on the ground. It was very easy, because so many horses at full gallop leave a big mess of trodden ground behind. The tracks headed to the ravine, which she approached carefully. When she got near to the edge she saw Zorro standing on his feet on the other side. Two riders were charging at him repeatedly with their swords. He could hardly parry the attacks and get out of the way of the slicing swords, and it looked like he didn't stand a chance against them.

Cristina got her pistol out and aimed at the attackers, but they were moving so fast and the distance was so great she realized it would be very difficult to hit them. Getting closer to them was vital, and the only way to do that on time to help Zorro was jumping with her horse over the ravine. She looked down into the void with fear, but she made up her mind when she saw Zorro missing the slaughtering sword once again by only a few inches. After tucking the gun in her belt behind her back, she went back along the path a safe distance, and then turned around to face the ravine. She patted the horse's neck to reassure him and spurred him hard with her heels to make him gallop towards the edge, with her frantic heart racing wild in her chest. Closing her eyes at the last moment, she held onto his mane praying that Perseo would ignore her fear and would jump safely. She opened them again when the horse landed on the other side, just in time to see the three men looking at her, surprised.

Zorro seized the opportunity to grab Vladimir by his Cossack long blue tunic, throwing him off the horse when he was distracted by Cristina. They both rolled on the ground, holding each other, swords in hand, trying to hit each other by any means. When they finally got separated they jumped on their feet, and continued fencing fiercely with a disparity of style and technique due to their different kind of swords. Zorro struggled to anticipate Vladimir's movements, and was being pushed slowly to the edge while retreating from his attacks. The Russian reached for his _nagaika_ —the short whip used by the Cossacks in the way of a sword— and swung it dangerously close to Zorro's side with his left hand, attacking him now with two weapons. It would have been easier to reach for his gun and kill Zorro immediately, but as a Cossack soldier Vladimir favoured the traditional "honest" weapons. Anybody could kill by shooting, but only a skilled Cossack could kill with a _nagaika._ It was much more satisfying to dispatch a skilled fighter like Zorro that way, rather than taking the easier route.

Yuri ignored Cristina and charged again against Zorro, but Cristina followed him while reaching for her pistol. She managed to push Yuri's horse just enough to the left to make him miss the fatal blow to Zorro once again. Yuri halted his horse and turned to face her, charging against her this time, quite cross, shouting and circling his sword wildly to intimidate her. While pulling the reins with her left hand to make her horse walk backwards, she lifted her pistol, aiming carefully to the charging Cossack's chest. She shot Yuri through the heart, and he fell on the ground before he could reach her with his sword, dying shortly after.

Zorro parried yet another lateral blow of the Russian, who was trying to chop him in half, when he was startled by the gunshot. He looked at Cristina, whose horse had reared with the loud noise quite close to the side of the gorge, making her fall on her back, dangerously close to the edge. That moment of distraction was enough for Vladimir to hit Zorro viciously over his right hip with his Cossack whip, which sunk into his flesh leaving a deep, large dent, making him scream with the sudden acute pain. Zorro answered back with a hard blow to the Russian's face with his right hand while still holding the hilt of his sword, which made his fist even harder on contact.

Cristina stood up. She was too close to the edge of the ravine now, and suddenly a portion of the edge collapsed and she lost her footing, slipping backwards. She screamed, trying to grab onto something, shaking her arms wildly in the air. Zorro's arm appeared over the edge at the last moment, when she was already flying through the air, as she had started to fall into the ravine. He lashed his whip to wind it up around her arm, pulling, and she crashed with her chest on the rocks on the uneven wall.

"Hold on!" he shouted.

She was desperately trying to find a firm foothold, but her feet were just kicking stones and soil down. Hoping that he would be able to pull her up, she grabbed the whip with her free hand. Zorro was lying flat on the ground over the edge, holding on to her. He had started to pull up when he saw a prominent part of the ravine's wall, a couple of metres down on her right, where she could stand up. After he punched the Russian to assist Cristina, he wasn't sure what had happened to him. He could have recovered and attack him any time now, while he was there on the ground, defenceless, so he decided to swing her to that spot while he dealt with him properly.

"I will swing you to a projecting spot to your right. You can stand in there."

Right after he said that, and while he turned on his right side to swing her better, Vladimir attacked him from behind, hitting hard his left arm with his _shashka_ with a slicing blow. Zorro cried out when the sword cut a large section through the muscles, lodging itself deep into the bone. He swung Cristina hard and let go of the whip, hoping she would be all right.

Vladimir shook his _shashka_, trying to release it from Zorro's left humerus while cursing in Russian. He had seen his brother dead on the ground and was crazy with hatred, willing to gore the masked man by chopping him in little pieces. Zorro was paralyzed with the pain. When he finally managed to recover his sword, the Russian hold it high to strike again, but Zorro turned on his side and swept Vladimir's feet with his right leg. The Russian fell on the ground close to the edge, losing his sword, which fell into the precipice missing Cristina by a short distance. Unable to help Zorro again, she was standing in the projection of the ravine's wall, wondering what was happening up there. Vladimir and Zorro fought at the edge, hitting each other furiously. Vladimir got on his knees and punched Zorro in the arm three times in a row, in his wound, which was bleeding profusely, spattering blood everywhere around, even on his own face. Zorro cried out again, and he nearly fainted. It took all his strength to deliver a hard kick to the Russian's back to make him lose his balance. Vladimir plunged over the edge, following his sword. Screaming with fear, he also passed closed to Cristina on his way down, trying to hold onto her. Avoiding him, she watched him go down hitting the wall, bouncing off it a couple of times until he reached the bottom, where he stayed motionless.

"Diego, are you all right?" she called looking up to the edge, worried about him after she'd heard him scream. "Diego?" He didn't reply. "DIEGO!"

"Wait a moment," he finally said, with a weary, weak voice. He had undone his belt and was trying to fasten it with a tight knot around his upper arm to stop the bleeding. He whistled to call Toronado, but the sound was too weak. Cristina whistled loudly herself, and the sound resonated vibrating in the ravine walls. Both horses came shortly after near to the edge. Toronado was limping noticeably, holding his head low, looking ashamed to be the indirect cause of his master's predicament, as if he had failed him somehow. Zorro stood up and grabbed the rope hanging off Toronado's saddle. He tied one end to the saddle's horn, and walked back to the edge to throw the other end to Cristina.

"Fasten it tight around your waist and hold on to it," he ordered. She did that, and when she was ready, Toronado started to walk backwards, pulling her up to the edge. Zorro was losing a lot of blood very quickly because the sword had cut through several large blood vessels, and his self-made tourniquet wasn't tight enough to stop it. Feeling very weak and dizzy, he sat on the ground in shock while Toronado pulled Cristina up.

Cristina crawled over the edge, moving quickly away from it, stood up, and removed the rope around her. She approached Zorro, who was falling to his side to lie flat on the ground. She pulled the belt around his arm with a much tighter knot, twisting it too, but the wound didn't stop bleeding. She ripped off her sleeve from the shoulder seam and wrapped it around Zorro's arm, pressing directly on the wound rather than above it. He complained weakly, but the blood was still pooling in the cloth very quickly, the severed blood vessels still bleeding.

"Diego, you are going to bleed to death! What should I do?" she asked, frantic.

He didn't know, and his brain was working very slowly now. _The tourniquet should have worked to stop the bleeding_… he thought, in a blur. Then he remembered he had a gunpowder cartridge in his saddlebag.

"Try with the gunpowder. It's in the bag. It may cauterize the artery," he said, blinking, with an effort to stay awake.

She jumped on her feet and went to fetch the cartridge. She also got two of the flammable sticks Zorro used to ignite the gunpowder, which were on the other bag. She removed the improvised sleeve-bandage and ripped the slash in Zorro's sleeve to make it much bigger. After carefully cutting the cartridge with her sword, she held the gash wide open with her left hand while spreading some gunpowder on it, filling the defect.

"There we go. Are you ready?" she asked, and he nodded weakly.

She held one of the sticks and rubbed it on a stone. The stick broke apart and didn't ignite. _Damn!_ She tried the other one, careful to apply the right pressure to it. This time the stick lit up, and she brought it near to the wound. The gunpowder set on fire with a violent flash, sizzling, and she jumped backwards away from it, frightened. Zorro cried out once again before he passed out.

The smell of burnt flesh hit Cristina hard, making her feel nauseous, but she approached Zorro again after a few seconds. A column of smoke swirled from his arm, all the tissues burnt to a brown pulp, but at least the wound wasn't bleeding anymore. She ripped her other sleeve and carefully dressed the wound for the second time. She called Toronado, who came over walking slowly, limping, and made him lie on the ground. The horse's knees were bruised, swollen and bloody, but she didn't have time to look after them. She pulled Zorro, dragging him slowly to the saddle. When she managed to place him across it, on his abdomen, she hold on to him and made the horse stand up slowly. Zorro nearly fell over the other side, but she managed to stabilize him. To stop him from falling off the saddle, she passed the rope around him to tie him up. Then, she jumped on her horse and took Zorro back home to the cave. She was careful to avoid the rest of the hunting party who were on their way to that side of the gorge, following a longer but safer route back home, which took several hours. They arrived to the cave late in the evening.

ZZZ

Five days before the wedding the Hacienda de la Vega already had a few rooms occupied by guests. There were expecting so many of them at the weekend that all the rooms in the house would be full, and some friends would have to be lodged at Don Francisco's. The Blascos didn't have much family in America, and nobody travelling from Spain could arrive on time for the wedding, so the number of guests on the bride's side was quite small compared with the groom's.

Because the main room with the fireplace was usually full of people, Diego had tampered with the mechanism which opened the secret door so nobody could action it accidentally by leaning on the mantelpiece. While the guests were in the house, Diego and Felipe had to walk to the secret cave entrance to tend to Toronado.

That evening Felipe was quite fed up with all the noise and bustle in the house, so he sneaked out and walked to the entrance of the cave to wait for Zorro to come back. He was worried about him because he had left a few hours ago. Sitting at the desk he could hear the loud voices upstairs. Nobody could kick up a racket like a bunch of De la Vegas together, especially if they hadn't seen each other for years.

ZZZ

The rest of the bounty hunters had been looking for Zorro's tracks on the other side of the ravine. They realized the hooves prints went back to the gorge, so they followed them. When they arrived there, they found the Cossacks dead and a large amount of blood on the ground. Very angry because he had lost his two best men in the fight, Karl Jäger inspected the ground, finding a sliced gunpowder cartridge near to the largest blood stain. Sniffing the air he could notice a fainted smell of burnt flesh. The German leader smiled like a hyena when he figured out Zorro had been wounded and he had tried to cauterize his wound. Realizing Zorro had to be a very skilled fighter to survive the attack, he was quite glad to learn he hadn't escaped unharmed.

He found a distinctive double set of prints going away from the ravine, back to the way they came from, at a slow pace, but their horses had trod over them on their way up and the track was lost on the rocks. He didn't know who was helping Zorro, but he hoped he could dispose of both of them soon.

The rest of the group split up in pairs to search the area, looking for Zorro and his assistant, but they could not find them. They came back to collect Yuri's body to bury him. The other two bodies had to be left at the bottom of the ravine because they were inaccessible.

ZZZ

Don Francisco, Don Alejandro, and some of his relatives, Diego's uncles and cousins, were in the main room that evening, chatting cheerfully, drinking spirits and smoking cigars in the armchairs around the fireplace. They were discussing the last details for the wedding. Don Francisco had designed a large marquee that would be installed at the pueblo's plaza. They had the Alcalde's permission for this and everybody in Los Angeles was invited to the reception party. The tavern would be open, and free drinks and food would be served to everybody. There would be a band playing music, dancing, and the party would go on well into the night. Diego's cousin, Alfonso, wanted to play a prank to the groom, _blanketing_ him in the way it was done to Sancho Panza in "_Don Quixote."_ Don Alejandro and Don Francisco liked this idea a lot.

"Yes, I think Diego needs to loosen up a bit and have some fun," Don Alejandro said, laughing. "That would do".

"And even if he doesn't like it, it will be fun for everyone else to watch," Alfonso said, chuckling. They continued laughing and joking and thinking new ways to play pranks on the groom.

ZZZ

Felipe was startled when a few minutes later Cristina arrived at the cave with Zorro still lying unconscious across Toronado. It looked as if he had been restrained, tied up with the rope to the saddle. Felipe stood up and looked at the stranger with fear. The intruder was wearing a blue waistcoat and a sleeveless white shirt, with his whole, long, thin arms on display. Felipe recognized him as the infamous Italian everybody was talking about. _How does he know about this place?_

"Oh, Felipe, thank God you are here. Help me," said the stranger, looking relieved.

Felipe didn't move. He was petrified and he didn't know what to do.

"It's me, Cristina, don't worry. I'll explain later," she said when she saw the confusion in Felipe's face. "I need your help. Diego is badly hurt."

_Not again_, he thought, springing into action.

Felipe helped Cristina move Diego to the bed in the corner. After he was shot, Diego had decided to set an infirmary in the cave in case of any more emergencies. He had prepared a few protocols for the treatment of a variety of wounds and kept a stash of medical supplies at hand, with bandages and dressings, ointments, herbal remedies and surgical instruments, and had instructed Felipe on their correct use. He hoped he would never need to use them, and certainly neither of them thought it would be required so soon.

Cristina was very worried about Diego. He had lost a considerable amount of blood in a short period of time. He was very pale, and his heart was racing but his pulse was weak. The wound was a mess, a large gap in his upper arm, right to the bone, which was filthy with gunpowder that didn't ignite because it got wet immediately when coming in contact with all the blood. Also, the soft tissues that had been burnt didn't look healthy at all. She doubted that mess could ever heal, and she feared Diego could end up losing the arm. The only good thing about it was that the wound wasn't bleeding anymore. And he was still unconscious, so they could rub and clean the tissues without causing him a lot of pain.

"What is going on up there? They are so loud!" Cristina said while she flushed clean water at high speed into the wound, quite annoyed by the laughter in the house. She was following the instructions to use a tubular device with a plunger to push the water, which Diego had designed following Pascal's law on the transmission of fluid-pressure principle. The device was working quite nicely to get rid of all the dirt embedded in the wound. Cristina could hear all the noise and laughter upstairs, but she could not understand what they were saying. If she had known what they were planning, she would have been fuming with anger, probably going upstairs charging like a raging bull.

Felipe read the protocol to treat burns. Diego said honey should be spread liberally in the wound so, once it was reasonably clean, he applied a thick layer covering it completely, and bandaged it over with a thick dressing. Shortly after they had finished the job, Diego woke up.

"Diego! Are you all right?" Cristina asked, anxious, leaning over him to kiss his forehead.

"Aaaaahh…. No… I'm not. But I will be," he whispered, trying to smile. He was very weak, and he moved and talked very slowly. "I am sure you did a great job there," he added, looking at the bandage around his arm. Although he had trouble to lift and bend the arm, he was glad to check that he could move his fingers. The whole area was throbbing with pain. He was lucky the main nerves and arteries had been spared, as they lay on the internal part of the arm, and he was cut on the lateral side. Otherwise he would probably be dead, or the arm would be paralyzed.

"And how are you? Did you get hurt?" he asked, concerned, remembering how close she had been to die herself.

"No, don't worry, I am fine," she said, although she was generally bruised after falling off her horse and banging her body on the wall, while she was hanging over the ravine. She would check herself later.

"Did you use honey in the wound?" he asked then to Felipe, who nodded, smiling proudly. "Well done, Felipe, you could become a fine doctor someday. And what about the wound in the hip? Did you stitch it up?"

Felipe and Cristina looked at each other. They were so busy cleaning the wound in the arm they didn't realize there could be more injuries.

"What wound in the hip?" Cristina asked, alarmed again. "I thought you were injured only in the arm."

"No. That Cossack also hit me with his short whip. I am sure I have a nasty laceration there, too. It hurts."

Cristina and Felipe had already removed the cape and the shirt before, and now they pulled out Zorro's boots and trousers to undress him completely. They discovered a large stain of blood in his underwear, over his right hip, which wasn't so obvious on his black trousers. _How could we have missed that?_ Cristina thought, because the bed was also stained with blood. Felipe and Cristina looked at each other again, hesitating about removing the underwear. Diego realized what she was thinking.

"Cristina, don't be silly. We are going to be married in a few days, you should get used to see me without clothes," he said with a weak, naughty smile, using similar words to the ones she had used by the river to get him in his underwear. "You should take a look at that wound, and you can't do that if I am covered by my underwear."

Cristina shrugged her shoulders as he did back then, and pulled the blood stained pants away after cutting them with Diego's fancy pair of scissors. She focused on the wound, avoiding being distracted by the other body parts on display. Felipe handed him a towel and Diego covered his privates, laughing at her embarrassment, while trying to have a look at the wound, but he couldn't reach because it was too long. It was a large, deep laceration across his right hip from his gluteus to the front of his leg. Cossack whips were known to be able to produce nasty injuries when used correctly, and the attacker was an expert at his trade. The wound was bleeding only slightly now, and looked quite clean comparing with the other one.

Diego advised to flush it with clean water from the well and stitch it up afterwards. Despite Felipe's training practicing the stitching up technique with oranges, when the time came to do it for real, his hands were shaking as they did before when he searched for the musket ball.

"Don't worry Felipe. You'll do a nice job, just think of me as an orange," Diego joked, smiling.

When Felipe dug the needle in the flesh for the first time, Diego stopped smiling and winced in pain. Felipe stopped. _Oranges were easy, they didn't complain!_

"Keep going, Felipe. Don't pay attention to what I do. It's going to hurt, we know that. It is a long wound and it will need lots of stitches, so get on with it," he said, trying to show a brave face. Felipe nodded, and carried on placing the stitches carefully on the wound. Cristina tried to distract Diego from the pain by holding his hand and caressing his hair, making him look away.

"You jumped over the ravine. I am very impressed. I thought you hated horse jumping," he said staring at her, focusing on her beautiful eyes, trying not to whimper while Felipe pulled from the silk thread to get the wound edges together, before he tied a knot. "You were very brave. And you saved my life."

"Yes, I jumped! That _must_ have been love. _True _love," she said, kissing him softly. "I was so scared. I thought they were going to cut you in half."

"Me too. I wondered how long I could keep fending off their swords, because they were so skilled with them. It was a miracle I survived, only thanks to you and your inability to do as you are told. Didn't I say: please do not get involved?" _And, thank God for that_, he thought. Diego hesitated for a moment, before he continued. "You killed a man today. Are you all right?"

Cristina looked down, embarrassed, because she hadn't thought at all about the man she'd shot down, and Diego looked much more concerned about it than she was.

"I have killed before, Diego. This is not the first time. He was going to kill me, and probably kill you afterwards, so I don't regret it," she said, looking back at him, very calm and collected.

"But… when? When did you…?"

"It happened during the war with France, when I was young. I shot a French soldier in the face back then, and I probably killed some more, I don't even know for sure. But I don't want to talk about it, please," she said, firmly.

Diego looked at her, amazed by her composure. She would never cease to surprise him. At that point, he finally made up his mind. He would be a fool to let her go while waiting for an illusion, something he could not possibly have. He felt relieved and also ashamed because he had been so close to break her heart, rejecting her just before the wedding. He cleared his throat.

"What about Toronado? Is he all right?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I will look at his legs when we finish with you, don't worry," she said, looking briefly at the horse, who was patiently waiting in his stall with all his tack still on.

Twenty stitches later the wound was closed. Diego relaxed a bit, sighing, and asked for a drink. Felipe handed him over a bark infusion.

"I guess you will make me drink lots of this horrible thing again, doctor Felipe," Diego said after drinking the whole glass. He didn't like it at all; it tasted quite bitter. Felipe nodded, smiling.

"Thanks for taking care of me… both of you…" Diego said slowly, starting to fall asleep, as he was exhausted. Felipe gesticulated quickly, grabbing his attention. "Tell him the usual… I went to Santa Paula…" he whispered, and he nodded off.

ZZZ

"Santa Paula? Again?" Don Alejandro said, shaking his head, blowing up like a firecracker. The unfortunate combination of being a bit drunk and his excitable nature made him change moods very quickly, and he went ballistic.

"Why on Earth does he need to go to Santa Paula now, only five days before the wedding?!" he shouted. Felipe wished that very same Earth would swallow him, to disappear.

"There are so many things to do! And, where has he been all day today? I saw him this morning, but he didn't tell me anything about going to Santa Paula!"

Don Alejandro was shouting so much that his inebriated guests came around to enjoy the show.

"What's wrong?" asked an unsteady Don Francisco, blowing a large amount of smoke from his cigar everywhere.

"Diego is gone! He went to Santa Paula, just like that! I am going to kill him this time!" Don Alejandro roared.

"Come on, my friend, don't be so harsh with the boy!" Don Francisco said, slapping his friend's back. Alfonso chuckled. At his age, his cousin could hardly be considered _a boy_ anymore. "Maybe he needs a bit of fresh air, to say goodbye to the good old bachelor days," he said, winking. Everybody laughed.

"I know you are joking, Francisco, but in this case, I am afraid you may be right, so don't laugh about it," Don Alejandro said, remembering his suspicions about Diego's _"needs"_ when he damaged his shoulder. And now, he was running back to Santa Paula.

"No way! I never thought he could be that kind of man," Don Francisco said, changing his mood too. After all, he was the bride's father, and it would be quite offensive if the groom was really playing around rather than waiting for his beautiful daughter.

"Well, let's hope he doesn't get cold feet and he comes back in time for the wedding," said Alfredo, Don Alejandro's cousin, who had travelled over several days all the way from Guadalajara in Mexico. He had arrived early in the afternoon, and he was very tired. "I think we've had enough partying for tonight, Alejandro. The women will be glad if we stop the racket and we retire to bed."

As the festive mood was gone, they agreed with Alfredo and went quietly to their rooms. Don Francisco stayed at the De la Vega Hacienda too, because he was too drunk to ride safely back home in the dark.

Felipe sighed, relieved, and sneaked out of the house again to go back to the cave.

ZZZ

Diego stayed at the cave for three days. He developed a high temperature —the same as he did when he was injured before— and he had to stay in bed because he was too weak, but at least he was conscious this time. The wound was very inflamed and it was discharging a lot of material, so he had to change the dressings several times a day. Cristina and Felipe came by a few times to check on him but he stayed on his own most of the time, because with all the activity it was difficult for them to pop in and out of the haciendas undetected.

At the cave, Diego had a lot of time to think about Cristina, and how wise his decision to marry her was.

Cristina was especially busy and stressed with the preparations for the wedding. It was difficult to feign any interest in the floral arrangements in the church when she was not sure Diego could make it out of bed in time —or if he was going to recover from his injuries without further complications, for that matter— but she went along with it grudgingly. She didn't even know if he really wanted to get married at all, at least not with her. Maybe he still dreamed about marrying blooming Victoria if he could ever get the chance. And she loved him so much, she could not stand it.

Her mother and the other ladies involved in the details for the wedding assumed she was just a normal, nervous bride facing the unknown territory of marriage. Doña María Luisa tried to have _the talk_ with her daughter about what to expect on her honeymoon and the women marital duties, but Cristina laughed at her mother's veiled references. After playing a man for so long in the taverns, she had heard it all before with the crude realism of the male perspective. She knew all about the mechanics of love making and that was the least of her worries.

Two days before the wedding Diego had to make a decision: to call it off or reappear and pretend everything was fine, even if he wasn't feeling well enough. Calling off the wedding would cause a lot of distress and shame to both families, and it would make it nearly impossible to rearrange it later on. He decided he would prefer two days of physical hell, followed by four weeks of rest on their honeymoon, and a lifetime of joy with the woman he loved. Yes, the woman he loved: _Cristina_. It was pointless to think about any kind of future with Victoria now. That ship had sailed. She would always occupy a special part in his heart, but the rest should belong to Cristina.

He procrastinated all afternoon because the idea of coming back home to face his father was scarier than facing a regiment of Cossacks charging against him. Besides, he didn't have any credible excuse to offer this time. In the end, he rode back home on Esperanza, who was hidden once again in the cave while he was pretending to be away. The short ride from the cave to the hacienda was very uncomfortable for Diego, because sitting on the saddle the stitches in his hip were stretched and were pulling away. Besides, he could hardly move his arm, and always with a lot of pain. When he got home, exhausted, he hid in the library, collapsing in one of the armchairs pretending to read a book. He couldn't wait for the night to fall to go back to bed.

ZZZ

"Diego! Where have you been? It was time you showed up, the wedding is on Saturday! I thought I'd have to call it off. You have a lot to explain, _señor_!" Don Alejandro said with his arms folded, tapping with his right foot on the floor when he came back home to find Diego sitting in an armchair in the library, reading quietly. He could not believe his son's attitude, coming back undaunted after disappearing for three days.

"Hello father. I am fine, thank you," he said, derisive, somehow disappointed by his father's apparent lack of concern. "I went to Santa Paula. I had a few affairs to sort out before the wedding."

"Affairs? Are you telling me that you… again?" he said, shaking his head. "What happened to you? I don't recognize you, Diego. I am so disappointed with you."

"I'm sorry father, you may think what you want, and anything I'd say won't get you off the wrong idea. The truth is that I had to go away. I needed time to think, alone. But now I am back, and that's what matters most," Diego said with a shaky voice. He was fed up with the lies; he wanted to tell him that he was Zorro, that he was injured, and that he needed his help and his tender loving care rather than his rejection. For the first time he was scared. He was afraid for the future, and he was afraid he could be killed one day without telling him who he really was. But he couldn't tell him this time either, as usual. He didn't know how.

Don Alejandro saw something in Diego's eyes, some kind of longing for approval. He calmed down a bit, realizing he may have been too harsh on him, constantly criticizing his life style. He had also been harassing him for a long time to get him married, but maybe he wasn't ready yet.

"Are you all right, Diego?" he asked, gazing at him, realizing he looked quite pale and tired, and somehow distressed. Diego suddenly stood up and hugged his father. He needed the close contact with him, but he also needed time to fight back the tears. He was quivering with the emotion. Don Alejandro was bewildered by his reaction, and patted Diego's back gently, talking to him as if he was a small child again. "It's all right Diego. I am proud of you, no matter what, you know that. I love you son, even when I shout at you, I still love you."

Diego hold onto his father a bit tighter for a few more seconds, before he let go.

"Sorry, Father… I am a bit… emotional, that's all," he said, trying to smile. He walked away from his father as fast as he could because he was about to cry buckets. Don Alejandro stood in the library shaking his head, puzzled.

ZZZ

The last three days had been quite hard for Victoria. Because wild rumours had spread about a kidnapping plan by the bounty hunters to lure out Zorro, Don Alejandro insisted she should not stay at the tavern on her own, so she was still a guest at the Hacienda de la Vega. She had spotted Zorro briefly, running over the roof tiles before jumping on Toronado, and then galloping away, chased by the bounty hunters. As they had not claimed the prize for him yet, everybody assumed Zorro had escaped without problems. When she saw Zorro, Victoria realized she didn't love him anymore. She felt nothing. None of the butterflies and racing heart she had felt before. _Nothing_. Like it had all been a dream, a long time ago. She could only think about Diego now, and he was gone.

Just a few days before his wedding, Diego had disappeared mysteriously. Suspecting she was the cause for this, due to her presence in the house, she was relieved when he came back pretending nothing had happened.

"Diego, did you go to Santa Paula because of me?" Victoria asked when she had the chance, the first time they were left alone.

That notion didn't occur to him before. Actually, he was glad to realize that once he had made up his mind about who he truly loved, he had hardly thought about Victoria at all, knowing she was safe at the hacienda with his father. Nonetheless, that was a fantastic excuse for his absence, so he jumped in.

"Yes, I did. Of course I wished to keep you safe here, but you must understand: I don't trust myself being so close to you. I am marrying Cristina tomorrow."

"Oh, sorry. You didn't need to go," she said, embarrassed. "It won't be long now. I am taking the stagecoach to go back to Monterey on Sunday, after your wedding. I am sorry to have caused so many problems," she said, standing up quickly to leave the room. Tears were coming back, flooding her eyes like they did before, but she didn't want him to see her crying again. Only two steps away, she suddenly felt very dizzy and weak, overwhelmed by the emotion.

Diego could not catch her on time when she fainted, dropping like a doll on the floor. When he was helping her up, picking her floppy body up with a tight embrace, Cristina came into the room.

"Diego! What are you doing?!" She could not believe her eyes; he was all over Victoria on the floor. Only a few hours ago he had finally spoken: he had assured he really loved her and wanted to share his life with her. Victoria was history and he was ready to move on. And now, _this_.

"Nothing!" he said, startled, nearly dropping Victoria back on the floor. "We were talking and she fainted. Help me to carry her to the sofa. I can't hold her properly; my arm is not working as it should."

Between them, they carried her and placed her gently on the sofa. Diego sprinkled some water on her face and Victoria came to, blinking.

"What happened?" she asked, apprehensive and confused.

"You fainted, Victoria. Are you all right?" Diego said, concerned.

"I fainted? How?"

"Victoria, are you pregnant?" Cristina said, suddenly suspicious. Victoria blushed, nodding embarrassed, looking away.

The look in Cristina's eyes when she gazed Diego was so intense it radiated the unmistakable message: _"I hope is not yours or…"_ Diego replied with an awkward shake of his head, bewildered.

"Oh, that's fantastic news. I have been told you always wanted to have children. How far are you?" Cristina said, trying to be nice.

"Three months, I think. I am not sure," Victoria said with an uncertain, shy smile.

"I will get the doctor to have a look at you," Diego said.

"No, don't worry, I am fine, really. No need for that. Just let me rest a bit, I think I tried to stand up too quickly before."

"Yes, do that, rest as much as you need. Congratulations," Cristina said, leaving the room. When she was out of her sight behind her and the sofa, she pointed at Diego with her index finger, moving her lips only without uttering a sound: _"You better behave."_

He sighed, rolling his eyes. That morning, he had told Cristina she was _the one._ That he loved her and he really wanted to marry her, but clearly, the suspicions were still on her mind.

ZZZZZ


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's notes: ****Thank you very much for your kind reviews. I am getting so addicted to them. Keep them coming!**

**I would like to thank my beta readers, Sandrine and Marla. Thank you very much for your patience and help. Sadly, Marla is currently very busy and can't beta for me anymore. Once again, thank you girls for all your hard work.**

**And now, enjoy the wedding. Please, don't expect anything too serious in this chapter. Even serious wedding ceremonies can have their funny moments. Have fun. Not much maiming on this one ;)**

**Chapter 17 – The wedding**

Diego woke up too early on Saturday morning. He couldn't go back to sleep because he was nervous about the wedding and he had a bad headache. Besides, the wound in the arm seemed to be throbbing even more than during the last two days. It looked terribly inflamed and it was very painful to the touch. Dreading the day ahead —which was supposed to be one of the happiest days of his life— Diego lay in bed for a couple of hours looking at the ceiling. Restless, he stood up with the firsts signs of activity in the house.

When the time came to get ready, Felipe helped him to dress up. Diego would wear a black suit for the wedding because he was afraid the wound would ooze and stain any other colour cloth, making it too obvious. Many people would talk about his bad choice when they would see him dressed like that, gossiping wildly, because according to his status they would expect him to dress more colourfully. Felipe applied another layer of honey to the wound and padded it around with a thick layer of dressings. He was trying to create an even barrier along the whole upper arm so people wouldn't notice the dressings too much when they'd grab him to congratulate him, something that would be inevitable on his wedding day. Just in case Diego would need to have the wound redressed before the end of the day, Felipe kept a couple of bandages in his own pockets. When he finished helping Diego, he set off to the pueblo with the first lot of guests in the largest _landeau_ carriage available at the De la Vega hacienda. All the guests would not fit in the same one, so Felipe would drive the carriage twice both ways.

Diego was glad he would travel in the second carriage, so he could rest a bit more at home rather than having to wait in the tavern or in church for everybody to arrive. Among other things, he didn't want to face Victoria, who had travelled on the first carriage. At least, not before the wedding.

Don Alejandro also travelled with the second lot. He was watching Diego quite closely, sitting opposite to him in the carriage, still trying to figure out the reason for his emotional outburst in the library. Diego still looked quite pale, but he seemed much more calmed down now, and that was a good sign.

"Diego, son, why are you wearing black to your wedding? It is… an unusual choice, to say the least."

"Oh, I like this suit, Father. And the blue one that was the first choice had a large stain in the back. I didn't realize before, Felipe pointed it out this morning."

Felipe chuckled with this comment from the driver's seat, where nobody could see him.

"You should have checked the suit before, Diego, not to leave it for the last moment!" Don Alejandro said, regretting it immediately because he had promised to himself he would not to criticize Diego so much, especially not today. Trying to say something positive instead, he said: "Anyway, the black seems to suit you quite well," which was a lie, because the black colour would contrast even more with Diego's pasty face, making it look even paler than it was.

On arrival to the pueblo Diego headed straight to the church, saluting a few guests who were outside waiting for him. He nodded to the Alcalde at the door.

"Diego, do you realize you are coming to your own wedding, not to a funeral?" De Soto sniggered when he saw him coming into the church dressed in black.

"I have been told marriage is some kind of a funeral for us bachelors," Diego replied, sarcastic.

"I think you are right!"

De Soto laughed, slapping Diego's injured arm quite hard, making him wince. It wasn't the first time someone had touched that painful spot today, and certainly it was not going to be the last one.

Diego walked to the altar and positioned himself there, with his back to the crowd, facing the priest who was already waiting for the couple.

"Are you all right, Diego? You look a bit pale," Padre Benítez said.

"I am fine, thank you, Padre. I am just a bit nervous, that's all."

"Don't worry, son. You'll be fine. I am so glad you finally found a woman to share your life with. I was worried about you," the priest said. Diego smiled.

"So was my father."

Loud organ music started to reverberate inside the church, announcing the bride's arrival. An excited whisper of admiration ran through the church when the astonished crowd had a glimpse of Cristina. Don Francisco, who had nearly given up the hope that such a day would ever become a reality, walked his daughter up the aisle arm in arm towards the altar, swollen with pride. She was even more beautiful than usual, advancing slowly, flashing her stunning smile to the guests, dressed with a plain, white silk dress without ornaments which could only enhance her natural beauty. Breaking with tradition, no veil covered her face, or mantilla hanged over her hair. Tied up high in an elegant braided design, her hair style heightened her delicate, graceful neck and slender shoulders. Bright red roses as a symbol of passion shone like a flare in her bouquet.

Hearing the gasps and comments of the guests closer to him, Diego had to fight the urge to turn around to look at her, but he waited patiently until the couple got to the altar.

"Diego, there she is; all yours now. Take good care of her."

"I will, Don Francisco, thank you." Diego looked at the enthralling vision his wife to be was, amazed such a creature would choose him as her husband. "Cristina, you look so beautiful. I am the luckiest man on Earth," Diego said, whispering at her ear.

"Yes, you are," she said, flashing her fantastic smile. "And I believe I am the luckiest woman, even if you look like a ghost today. Are you all right? You look very pale."

"So far, so good. Looking forward to go to bed tonight… I mean… to sleep. I hope you won't be disappointed," he winked. She laughed, because of course she didn't think the Earth would shake for them that night.

They joined hands and faced Padre Benítez, who was delighted to see Diego getting happily married, as all the people present in the church were. Everybody except one person, who was hiding at the back: a nervous wreck of a lady who was twisting her hands hurting herself to avoid the tears. She had chosen to sit at the back because she was afraid it would be too obvious her tears were not joyful ones.

Padre Benítez solemnly gave Mass. At the right moment during the ceremony, the couple exchange their vows and wedding rings.

"Diego de la Vega, do you take Cristina Blasco to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love her and honour her all the days of your life?" Padre Benítez said.

'I do,' said Diego, squeezing her hand.

"Cristina Blasco, do you take Diego de la Vega to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and honour him all the days of your life?"

'I do,' Cristina said, squeezing Diego's hand back. They both smiled, as Padre Benítez did. The priest then said aloud:

"You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide. Amen."

Don Alejandro, acting as the _padrino_, handed Diego the gold wedding rings. The priest blessed them, and the couple proceed to exchange them.

"Cristina, take this ring as sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen," Diego said, changing the ring from finger to finger until he reached the forth, where it fit perfectly.

Cristina, quite nervous feeling all the eyes fixed on her back, held his ring, and tried to do the same.

"Diego, take this ring as sign of my love and fidelity. In the name of the Father…" she said, placing the ring on his thumb, "the Son…" She changed it to the index finger. "…and the Holy…" The ring slipped off her fingers when she removed it to place it on Diego's middle one "…Sh….pirit!"

The ring bounced on the floor with a metallic tinkle and rolled away from them behind Padre Benítez. Diego stepped forwards to get it, bending down too fast, forgetting about his injuries for a moment. The stretched wound in his hip sent a painful signal to his brain, making him jolt back up, losing his balance. Padre Benítez grabbed him by the first part he could get hold of, his left upper arm. Diego winced in pain, holding back a loud scream, uttering a soft one that was lost in the loud gasps of the crowd. But he managed to recover his balance and slowly bend down again in a controlled manner to get the ring. When he turned around to go back to Cristina, he held it high smiling to the crowd, who whispered approvingly, some of them even clapping.

"There you go, try again," he whispered to Cristina, giving her the ring.

"Are you all right? You look like about to faint," she whispered back, very concerned. He looked paler than a fading ghost now.

"I am fine. Get on with it, the shorter the better."

Cristina held the ring and said the words again, changing the ring from finger to finger very carefully this time.

"Amen," she said, with a sigh, when she finally placed it in Diego's forth finger. She thought it was finished, but then Don Alejandro also handed the groom the beautiful De la Vega's family _madrina de arras_, so he could present the traditional 13 gold coins to the bride. Diego put the coins in Cristina's hands, while the padre said:

"Lord, bless this _arras_ that Diego gives to Cristina, and bestow upon them the riches of your kingdom."

"Cristina, accept this coins as a symbol of my trust and confidence, and my ability to support and care for you."

She accepted the gift with a shy nod and a smile, and gave the coins back to Diego, being extremely careful not to drop any coins on the floor.

The priest continued with the liturgy of Eucharist and Communion. Then he pronounced the final nuptial blessing, and the awaited words: "You may kiss the bride."

Diego leaned over slowly to kiss Cristina, and the crowd in the church cheered, clapping enthusiastically.

"You may go in peace now," said the priest.

"Thanks be to God," the faithful crowd answered back.

Cristina grabbed Diego's left arm carefully and lightly, and they turned around to face the crowd. They lingered close to the altar until most of the people present in the church had gone outside to wait for them to congratulate them.

"Ready for the battle?" she asked. He sighed and nodded. "There we go then."

They walked slowly out of the church as husband and wife. They were welcomed by a shower of rice and flowers the guests threw at them as best wishes for prosperity and happiness, and they found themselves surrounded by happy faces willing to hug and kiss them. They got separated, and Diego had to endure congratulations by the dozens. The most favoured one by the men was a vigorous right hand shake followed by slapping or shaking his left arm, right where it hurt the most.

ZZZ

The Plaza was decorated with a myriad of flowers in pots and garlands, and a large amount of candles were ready in lamps and torches, waiting to be lit before dusk. A huge marquee was in the middle, with long tables for the guests to taste the delicious food and drinks on offer, and a large platform where the band could stay to play music all the time.

Children were delighted, hitting with a stick the _piñatas _on display, bursting them open to collect the sweets, fruits and nuts which fell on their heads like a shower.

"How are you doing?" Cristina asked while they swirled around the plaza during the first wedding dance, everybody looking at them still commenting on what a good looking couple they were. Rather than being guided by Diego, she was making an effort to help him to hold his left arm up, both trying to be as coordinated as possible with their movements.

"I will survive. Nobody has slapped my arm in the last ten minutes," he joked. "I thought for a moment they were going to pull it off with all the shaking."

"Good, keep it up." He laughed with her pun. After a while, everybody else joined them in the dance, and they could relax a little, not being the centre of attention anymore.

The festive mood was contagious, and everybody was having a good time, with troubles like the group of bounty hunters or the Alcalde's taxes forgotten for a while.

A couple of hours into the party, Alfonso approached Diego from behind, grabbed him by his upper arms and pushed him towards the other side of the plaza, laughing. Diego went along reluctantly to avoid a tougher grip if he refused.

"What do you want now? I am not really in the mood, Alfonso, I don't feel very well. Let me go," he said, wriggling to get off his grip. _Why everybody has to put their paws on my arm today?_ he moaned to himself. _They are killing me!_

"In a minute, Diego, but first… enjoy the ride!" he said, pushing him in the middle of a circle of men. He realized he had stepped onto a large blanket, but before he could say anything all the men grabbed the edges at once and pulled, making him fall on his back in the middle of it.

"No!" he yelled, but they ignored him, roaring with laughter, and they started to pull up in a synchronized manner causing him to rise into the air and to fall back on the blanket, getting higher and higher every time. He wondered what was all that about until he saw his father and father in law chuckling very amused, watching him from the plaza. Then he made the connection: they were _blanketing_ him like they did to Sancho Panza in the novel. He mentally cursed their passion for Don Quixote.

It could have been funny and enjoyable if he hadn't been hurting so badly when he landed on his injuries, banging either his left arm or his right hip nearly every time he fell back on the blanket. They were tossing him up several meters into the air now, and he was hitting the blanket harder and harder. He wondered how long they would keep at it, and if they would stop before he'd past out. Everybody in the plaza was looking at him, clapping and laughing about his twisted facial expression, which everybody thought was due to fear.

Hearing the laughs, Cristina stepped out into the plaza from the tavern and looked at them, aghast. How could Diego's relatives and friends be so callous, she didn't know. Diego looked in trouble, with a wince of pain in his face, which was horribly pasty.

"Alfonso! Stop it! Stop it at once!" she shouted. "You are hurting him, can't you see? He is not feeling very well, leave him alone!"

They all stopped the tugging at the same time and looked at her, puzzled because she looked so angry. While doing so they relaxed the tension on the blanket a little, but just enough so Diego could crash on the ground landing on his left side, with a loud _thunk._ This time he passed out without even crying out.

"You, idiots!" Cristina shouted.

Realizing for the first time how pale and unwell he looked, everybody rushed around tending to Diego, fearing he may have banged his head badly on the ground. Following the instructions of a very concerned Victoria, Alfonso and two others held Diego up and carried him to an empty room in the tavern. Cristina asked Felipe to stay, rushing everybody else out of the room. The door banged in its frame when she slammed it in Victoria's face as she was trying to come in. With a quick move she closed the latch too.

"Cristina, let me in," Victoria said, banging on the door. "Is he all right?"

"Yes, go away, leave us alone!" she shouted back, stressed, while undressing Diego with Felipe's help to check on his wounds.

"Should I get doctor Hernández?"

"No, he'll be fine. Go away! I am _his wife_ now. _I_ will deal with this, thank you," she remarked, annoyed.

Victoria didn't like that comment which made her furious, but Cristina was right, she was his wife, so she turned around walking away. She bumped into Don Alejandro in the landing.

"Is he all right? What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know, Cristina threw us out of the room… but Felipe is in there with them. I don't know what's going on."

The wound in the arm had been discharging a lot, and the sticky honey mixed with blood had run everywhere with all the squeezing and slapping, oozing out of the dressings and all over the shirt and the black jacket's sleeve. It looked like a mess again, and it was bleeding, thankfully not too much. Some of the stitches in the hip had come undone, and that wound was also bleeding and bruised.

"Bloody idiots!" Cristina cursed, her lady manners totally forgotten. "He was doing so well!" At that moment, Don Alejandro also knocked on the door.

"Cristina! How is he? Is he all right?" he asked. His voice sounded both concerned and guilty.

"Yes, don't worry, he'll be fine. He banged his head hard. He's got a mild concussion," she lied. "And, he didn't feel well this evening, anyway. He just needs to rest. Go back to the party."

"Are you sure? Can I come in?" he asked again.

"Yes, I am sure. Go away!" she answered back, impatiently, about to curse again.

Don Alejandro —just as Victoria did— hated to be dismissed like that, but he gave in and turned around shrugging his shoulders. _What a fierce lady_. _She is going to eat him alive_.

ZZZ

Karl Jäger and his team of bounty hunters headed towards Los Angeles. They thought that disrupting the De la Vega's wedding would make Zorro come out again in the open. Initially, they had come to Los Angeles because of the reward, it was business, but now it was personal. Three men were dead, killed directly or indirectly by Zorro. They demanded retribution. And they had the intention to get it, one way or another.

ZZZ

Diego opened his eyes slowly, blinking. _I fainted again, brilliant. How many times in a row?_ The first thing he saw was Cristina and Felipe by the window trying to understand each other without much success. He cleared his throat, and they turned their heads towards him.

"Diego, are you all right?" Cristina said, rushing back to him.

"Yes, I am all right," he said sitting up in the bed. "Just a bit bruised… and dizzy… _very_ dizzy," he said, lying back on the bed. "Please don't let my family come close to me, they are killing me. I don't understand how they thought that treating me like Sancho Panza could be a good idea. My father seemed delighted, laughing at me. And your father, too."

"I know. I don't understand how they couldn't see that you were in pain. I am sorry for the way they stopped, that should not have happened. Did you bang your head on the ground?"

"I don't know. It hurts and I am very dizzy, so I guess I did. For sure I landed on my left side, on my arm, just where the wound is."

"That's what everybody thinks, that you hit your head and fell unconscious. It's not bad as a cover up," she explained. "Your father is worried about you. I think you should talk to him and tell him that you want to stay here and retire to bed now. That would save you from any more congratulations… and tricks. I'll stay with you," she said, dressing his wound again with the spare bandages Felipe carried in his pockets. "Felipe, can you please tell Don Alejandro to come back to see Diego? Thank you."

When Victoria saw Felipe leaving the room, she came in quickly.

"Diego, are you all—" She stopped there, embarrassed. Diego was half naked on the bed. Cristina threw the sheets over him quickly to cover the wounds.

"Victoria!" Cristina complained, quite cross. "Can't you knock?"

"Oh, sorry… Sorry," Victoria apologized, mortified, leaving the room in a hurry. Cristina latched the door again behind her.

Victoria thought she had seen blood stains on the sheets. _No… Sure it didn't mean… Oh, gosh!_ She left the tavern and ran into the plaza, a bit shaken. She could not picture Diego having sex with Cristina, it was too upsetting. Then, she realized Felipe was in the room with them. That would have been way too weird. She reckoned that blood must have been Diego's. _But, coming from where?_

Don Alejandro checked on Diego, and agreed it was a good idea the couple would retire to bed so early. _The earlier the better_, he thought, smiling. He came back to the plaza and announced the groom was fine, but he was very tired, so the newlyweds would retire for the night. A loud uproar followed his words, and everybody went back to the party mood they had before. It would not last long.

ZZZZZ


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 18 – Leonardo in jail**

The German and the bounty hunters arrived at Los Angeles just after dusk. They rode into the illuminated plaza making their way through the crowd, which moved away from them, scared. The band stopped playing and everybody kept quiet. Don Alejandro moved closer to them, confronting the German leader.

"You are not welcomed here, _señores_. This is a private party."

"I don't care. I am looking for Zorro. I think he may be here," the German said, gesturing to his men, who spread out in the plaza on horseback, keeping an eye on the crowd. "Your Alcalde agreed we could search for him at any time, and that's what we are doing."

Cristina approached the tavern window to check why the music and general noise in the plaza had stopped. Diego was asleep resting because he was exhausted after a long day of enduring pain. She leaned out on time to see her father shouting to the German.

"But not in my daughter's wedding party!" he cried. Don Francisco despised the German and his team of bounty hunters. He didn't like their trade or their methods, not at all.

_No, father! Not now, shut up!_ _He'll kill you!_

"Oh, really? And you are…?" Karl asked, drawing his sword, pointing with it to Don Francisco's chest. Don Alejandro tried to pull his friend a few steps back, away from the sword, but he wouldn't have it.

"I am Don Francisco Blasco, and I know who you are. You are a coward who, from the security of his horse, threatens with his sword an unarmed man on the ground."

"Do you mean you want to have a sword? I will come down to your level, if you wish," Karl said, dismounting, showing a sadistic smile.

"Señor Jäger, I think you are stepping out of line. I don't think this is necessary," De Soto intervened, uncomfortable with the situation, which could not have a happy ending.

"Why not? He could be Zorro for all I know. He is tall like him, and he has dark hair," the German pointed out.

"This is preposterous!" Don Alejandro cried. "Don Francisco arrived in California a few months ago, and Zorro has been roaming around for years now!"

"But, señor Jäger has a point here. He could have been hiding all that time," De Soto said, intrigued now. The man certainly showed Zorro's nerve and courage.

"If I was Zorro, señor, I would make sure you'd swallow your words and a quarter of my sword," Don Francisco boasted.

Doña María Luisa shook her head, anxious. There he was again, as so many times before: Don Quixote in action against injustice. Only this time, justice could not possibly prevail, not against the bounty hunters.

"Give him your sword, Alcalde," the German ordered.

The alcalde was the only one carrying a sword in the party, apart from the few soldiers on duty. De Soto hesitated.

"Now!"

De Soto threw his sword at Don Francisco, who grabbed it by the hilt in mid-air, like Zorro would have done. At that point, Cristina ran to the door where she found Felipe holding a parcel which contained the Italian's clothes and weapons. The night before, without telling Diego, they had decided to hide it under the carriage in case she would need it for any reason, as Zorro would be off-duty. The time had come now.

"Thank you Felipe, you read my mind. I was going to get it myself." She closed the door and changed her clothes quickly while she listened to the clink-clank of the swords in the plaza. She was grateful because she had chosen a simple wedding dress, and it didn't take long to get it off. After messing her hair up undoing the braids, she applied the facial hair in a rush, hoping it would hold on in the right places because she had no time to let the adhesive set properly. When she stepped out disguised as Leonardo, she asked Felipe to stay in the room with Diego. "If he wakes up, don't let him come down to the plaza to help me, no matter what. They'll kill him." Felipe nodded, uncertain.

Don Francisco was fighting bravely, but he was obviously at a disadvantage with the German, who was: younger; faster; didn't suffer of chronic lameness; had not been drinking at all that night; and was currently making a living from the dubious art of killing people. Karl amused himself delivering non-fatal cuts to Don Francisco's limbs, each one followed by a loud gasp from the crowd and a groan from Don Francisco, who would furiously attack back with renewed energy only to be cut again, each slash deeper than the previous one. Pretty soon his clothes were covered with blood stains.

"Alcalde, stop this fight!" demanded Don Alejandro, who wanted to help his friend, but he couldn't because he was quite conscious of the fact that he could not win the sword fight either. They needed Zorro, but he realized that, as everybody in Los Angeles had been invited to the wedding, whoever Zorro was, he was probably in the plaza already and could not show up as himself without his mask.

"I can't. This is a private matter between two able individuals, and I shouldn't interfere," said De Soto, who wasn't even sure if the few soldiers scattered in the plaza could take on the very well-armed team of professional killers. "It is a shame, but Don Francisco is about to die due to his own foolishness."

Just a few seconds after he said that, Karl got fed up of playing with the mouse and he disarmed Don Francisco. He held his sword up, ready to deliver the final thrust, smiling sadistically.

"Any final words that you wish to share, señor?" the German said, laughing at him.

"Yes. Just to tell you that you are a despicable person and that I hope you'll burn in hell."

When she saw the German starting to move forward with the intention to kill her husband, Doña María Luisa let out a horrified shriek, covering her eyes with her hands. Diego woke up with the startling cry.

Cristina stepped in at the last instant, beating hard the German's sword out of the way when he thrust to kill her father. Karl's sword just gashed Don Francisco's arm again. She pushed her father out of harm's way and attacked Karl, who was taken by surprise and could not handle the swap very well. After a few coordinated bold movements, she disarmed him. She stopped with her sword pointing to Karl's throat.

"You can't win. Touch me and my men will shoot you down like a rabid dog. Lower you sword now, and you may live, whoever you are," the German said, looking at his men in the plaza, who had their guns ready.

"I will, after you give me your word that you will leave these people alone," the Italian said, still holding his sword pressing lightly against the German's neck. "All of them, including _signorina_ Victoria and Don Francisco. They don't know who Zorro is."

"I don't have to promise anything. I will order my men to shoot you now." Hearing these words, they all put their finger in the trigger, aiming at the Italian, ready to shoot.

"If you do that, I will pierce your neck before I die, and you'll die with me." The German gulped and the skin over his throat rubbed on the sharp sword's tip, which scratched it, drawing blood.

Diego had got out of bed and had reached the window at that point, still feeling dizzy and confused. Felipe tried to dissuade him, but he wanted to find out what was going on.

_What the hell is she doing there?_

"All right, all right, I won't harass these people anymore. Get that sword away from me!"

Karl was mad with anger to be humiliated like that in public. De Soto was glad he had not been the only one to be defeated so easily by the darn Italian.

"Everybody here has heard you. I hope you will honour your words," she said, lowering her sword. The German took it off her hand with a violent move, fuming, and came closer to scrutinize her.

"Are you Zorro? Only him could beat me like this!" he said, but he doubted it, because the Italian's frame was much slimmer than Zorro's, and he looked shorter.

"But this is not Zorro, I am sure of that. I know it because I saw them together when they trashed my office," De Soto said.

"In that case, he is his accomplice. Was it you who helped Zorro in the ravine? Did you kill my men?"

"_Non so di che cossa stai parlando,_" Cristina said, choosing the Italian this time. It didn't matter what she would say. She was afraid the result would be the same.

Diego was watching the scene from the window in the tavern, unable to help. He was feeling extremely dizzy now, and he had to hold on to the frame to stand up. He jolted when he saw Karl punching Cristina very hard between her chest and her abdomen, right to the solar plexus. It was the German's signature punch, which had devastating effects on the recipient but it was not so hard in his own knuckles like a punch to the face. As expected, Cristina dropped on the floor gasping, unable to breath.

"He dropped like a leaf!" Mendoza said, marvelled.

"Take him to jail," the German ordered.

The lancers looked at De Soto, who nodded approvingly. Two soldiers approached the Italian, grabbed him under his arms and dragged him to a cell in the alcalde's jail. They pushed him in there, dropping him on the floor where he stayed, bent over with the pain, still not breathing.

"Guard him well. I bet Zorro will come to help him. Do you have a reward for that one?" Karl asked De Soto.

"No, I don't. He is a nobody."

"Shame. It was too easy to get him."

By then, Diego had moved away from the window and was trashing around the room trying to get dress, tripping over and losing his balance all the time because he was so anxious and dizzy. Felipe grabbed Diego's shoulders to get his attention, shaking his own head from side to side slowly, to tell him he could not go out to attempt any rescue missions in the hopeless state he was in. Desperate, Diego sat on the floor by the bed.

"I know you are right, Felipe, but I have to do something! I just need to get her out of there and bring her here across the plaza, and they would never know it was her. The longer she stays in that jail, the more likely they would find out who she really is. And… they may torture her." The thought made him shiver, and he felt sick, nauseous with that thought and the persistent vertigo.

Felipe told him he needed to go back to the hacienda, because he would need to drive the wedding guests back home. Surely the party was over now, and there was no point to stay in the pueblo. He would think of something on his way. Then, he remembered the poisoned darts that Zorro had used before, and suggested to bring those back.

"Yes, Felipe, that may do, bring them back with you. Be very careful not to stab yourself. And don't bring Zorro's clothes; they may search you when you come back. Don Diego de la Vega will go to the rescue tonight," he said, crawling back to bed to rest a bit more in the meantime, his eyes rolling, unable to focus. _If at least I wasn't so dizzy, damn it!_

ZZZ

The wedding party was over, and the guests scattered heading home, scared and moved by the incidents at the plaza. Inside the tavern, Dr Hernández looked at Don Francisco's wounds. Everybody was relieved to know they were not critical and should heal without problems. The doctor stitched the deeper slashes up, bandaging the cuts over with some pressure to stop the bleeding. When he had finished, the Blascos headed home in their carriage, driven by a servant. Don Alejandro sent Felipe with the first load of guests back home while he stayed in the tavern with Alfonso, Rafael and a few others. He wanted to check on Diego, but he didn't want to disturb the newlyweds. He didn't even know if they were aware of the events at the plaza, or if they would be asleep.

Diego was lying in bed looking at the swirling ceiling, with his head throbbing while he was patiently waiting for Felipe, praying his dizziness would go away so he could have a chance to rescue Cristina, and praying that she would be safe until he could do that. He also hoped his father would not try to check on him again; he really didn't want to face him.

ZZZ

Karl was quite annoyed with the Italian, who had dared to challenge him in public like that. Everybody was leaving the pueblo, and he felt Zorro was escaping among them. He signalled a couple of his men, and they went inside the jail. The Italian was still on the floor, trying to breathe, just managing to get some air into his lungs. Karl came into the cell and slapped his hat off. He grabbed him by the hair, pulling his head back, forcing him to look up at him.

"You are not Zorro, but you know who he is, and you are going to tell me. NOW!" he shouted, pulling up until he got the Italian standing, still gasping for air. "Who is Zorro?" he shouted again.

Even if she had the intention to talk, Cristina could not say anything, short of breath and frightened as she was. The German dragged her out of the cell, heading to the stables. Once they got there, he pushed her towards the drinking trough and forced her head deep into the dirty water. She struggled, trying to get out, but one of the other men punched her on the ribs and she gasped, getting water into her lungs. When the German got her out of the water, still holding her hair, she coughed and spat violently, jerking.

"WHO? Who is he?"

She kept coughing, so the German dropped her in the water again, repeating the same cycle twice. De Soto was watching the scene, in awe, wondering if he could have been able to apprehend Zorro himself in the past if his methods would have been so cruel. In a weird mental twist, all that Cristina could think about was her fake facial hair, which she wished would not get dislodged with the water.

The third time she was allowed out of the water, she managed to spit most of it out and got a deep breath of air in her lungs. Then, the German asked again.

"Who is Zorro?!"

"I don't know. I can't tell you," she managed to say this time. Karl pushed her away, and she staggered backwards to get her balance. Before she could manage, the German punched her face and she fell on the ground, face down, unconscious.

"Damn Italian! I didn't hit him that hard. His jaw is like butter!" Karl said after pushing him with his boot, checking that he was unconscious. "Put him back in his cell. We will try again later when he'd woken up."

The other two bounty hunters dragged the Italian back to the cell and dropped him on the ground. They didn't bother to check his face, otherwise they would have realized his facial hair was displaced, and faked.

ZZZ

Felipe came back to pick Don Alejandro and the other guests up. He had stopped by the cave entrance on his way back to collect the poisoned darts, and before he came into the tavern, he threw the small parcel through the window into Diego's room. He had also prepared a bag with bandages and dressings, an ointment and a jar of honey, and covered them with some spared clothes for Diego on top, and some spared clothes for Cristina borrowed from one of the female guests at the hacienda. He left it by their door on the first floor. He didn't want to knock and get Diego opening the door, because Don Alejandro and Victoria would try to see him if they had the chance.

Diego waited for his father and the guests to leave Los Angeles. He stood up unsteadily to sort the darts and get them ready, and decided to wait another hour before he would try to rescue Cristina, in the dark, in the early morning hours.

Later on, dressed up in his black suit, which would help him in the dark, he climbed out of the window up to the roof with some difficulty. He was grateful he wasn't so dizzy anymore, but his arm hurt every time he moved it. Walking carefully over the tiles, as he had done so many times before dressed as Zorro, he looked at the plaza from a different angle. He saw one of the bounty hunters guarding the entrance to the jail, but he was too far away to shoot him with a dart. Diego walked carefully over the roofs of a row of houses, towards the end of the pueblo, climbed down, and crossed the street in the shadows to the other side. He climbed up to the roof again, walking closer to the jail and the garrison. When he was close enough, he shot a poison dart to the man guarding the front door, and another one to the man at the back. They both fell unconscious shortly after. He had no difficulty sneaking into the jail silently, shooting another dart to the man guarding the cell. Getting the keys off the hanger, he opened the door slowly so it would not creak, and he came inside the cell.

Cristina was lying on the floor, unconscious and wet. Diego turned her over carefully. She was very pale and cold, with a dark haematoma forming in her chin, her fake beard hanging out. Diego felt a mixture of concern, sadness, guilt and anger which blurred his mind, and some inconvenient and uncontrollable set of tears which blurred his vision. He picked her up gently and headed to the door, careful not to make any noise. His arm was extremely painful with the effort, but he ignored it. He was also feeling a bit dizzy and unbalanced again, but there was nothing he could do about it. Looking outside, he didn't see a sign of life, so he walked across the plaza to the tavern as fast as he could, staggering to one side. He had left the door open slightly ajar before he left, and now he pushed it slowly to come in. The door let out a loud and continuous creak. Diego cursed and walked to his room quickly, swinging from side to side along the stairs, nearly tripping over twice. He heard Victoria moving in her room when he passed her door, and had just time to get into his room and close the door behind before she stepped out to investigate the noise. She thought she had heard Diego's door closing, so she approached it and knocked softly.

"Diego?"

Diego leaned with his back against the door, still holding Cristina, trying not to make any noise, his head spinning with the effort to carry her.

"Diego?" she called again. "Cristina?" She reached for the handle, but she didn't touch it, remembering the embarrassment she had before. She came down to check on the front door, and was quite surprised to find it open because she had locked it before. Suspicious, she closed the latch again and did a quick round on the ground floor. She didn't see anything unusual, so she eventually came back to her room. Only then Diego moved from the door to leave Cristina resting on the bed.

He carefully undressed her, hiding the Italian's clothes in the bag he found by his door when he stepped out to open the front door the first time. He was extremely worried about Cristina because she was shivering and breathing abnormally, with gurgling noises coming from her chest. Suspecting why she could be wet and breathing like that, he didn't bear to think about it in detail. When he removed her shirt he saw two large haematomas in her torso, over her stomach and on her side, over her ribs, and tears came back to his eyes, spilling out. He clenched his fists, trembling with rage. He had never felt the urge to kill anybody in cold blood before, but now he had to make an effort not to go back outside to whack and tear the German apart, even if that was the last thing he would ever do. With shaky hands he touched the ribs to check if they were fractured. They were, so he hoped they had not pierced her lungs. She didn't react at all to the touch because she was deeply unconscious. He wasn't so sure about the sternum, but he also hoped it would not be fractured or the distal portion could cause a fatal haemorrhage if it had become loose and reached her liver. He grabbed the dressings in the bag and bandaged her chest tightly to support her ribs. Then he lay in bed with her, holding her close to keep her warm under the blanket. She was shivering in his arms, and he was quivering too while crying. He thought he could lose her, and he was feeling very guilty and distressed thinking about how cruel he had been with her and others exposing himself to danger, when she had been worried sick about him. She was definitely the stronger one; he could not stand that kind of anguish. In the end, he was so exhausted he fell asleep holding her in his arms.

ZZZZZ


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's notes**\- **by now, you'll have realized Karl is a nasty piece. In this chapter he outdoes himself turning against everybody within reach, particularly the poor doctor. Some young readers may find that particular scene too descriptive. I thought this story could have been rated M more because of the descriptive violence in some chapters rather than for the adult sex scenes, which as you will see, the only sex in the whole story is very brief, awkward, and not very descriptive. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the rest. Only two more chapters to get to the end of part 2. As usual: please, review. Thank you. **

**Chapter 19 – The Challenge**

Cristina woke up in the early morning light in Diego's arms. Confused, not knowing where she was or who was holding her, she panicked, thinking it could be one of the bounty hunters. Trying to move away, she got aware of the unbearable pain in her ribs, which became torture when she started an uncontrollable paroxysmal cough, so violent that it woke Diego up immediately.

"Cristina, are you all right?" A quick look at her distressed face was enough to realize that she wasn't. He helped her up, holding her torso upright, supporting her damaged ribs still while she coughed. "Shhh… Calm down. I am here now," he whispered while she managed to reduce the frequency and depth of the coughs, until she was able to breathe again.

"It hurts… so much," she whimpered.

"Yes, I know. Calm down. Your ribs are broken, try to breathe slowly," he said, kissing her head.

"What happened? How did you get me out?"

"It doesn't matter. You are safe now, don't worry" he said, tenderly kissing her again. She started weeping softly.

"It was awful, I thought I was going to die. I couldn't breathe and—" she started coughing again.

"Shhh… don't talk, dear, just concentrate on breathing and rest." The intense hatred boiled inside him again and he mumbled: _"I am going to kill that bloody German."_

"No. Don't do anything foolish," she said in between coughs.

They stayed in that position for a while, until she calmed down and her breathing became regular. Feeling safe in his arms, she fell asleep again while he though t about the best plan of action for them. They were going to San Diego for their honeymoon, but that journey was unrealistic now due to Cristina's condition. Deciding the best option would be a couple of weeks resting at home rather than hiding in the cave, he considered calling doctor Hernández to attend Cristina because he was quite concerned about her breathing. Also, he was quite worried about his own wound in the arm, which was very unlikely to heal without reconstruction and stitching, which was something beyond Felipe's ability. He stayed still holding Cristina in that awkward position until his back ached. Then, he left her propped up with pillows while he changed his bandages and got dressed with the spared clothes the farsighted Felipe got for him. Diego was very proud of the young man, who could keep a clear head and attend to the small details with such competence. Amazingly, he had even thought to get a veil and mantilla for Cristina to cover her face if needed in the morning.

ZZZ

Karl went back to jail in the morning to harass the Italian a bit more, looking for answers. The scene he found in there, with his men asleep on the floor and an empty cell, was not what he had expected. Furious, he kicked his men, shouting at them until they woke up slowly, confused.

"What happened here? What are you doing sleeping, guarding an empty cell? Where is the Italian?" he barked at them.

"That must have been Zorro," said one of the lancers, who came into the jail alerted by the commotion. "He got some bandits asleep before with poisoned darts. See? Like this one" he said, showing the little thorn that protruded out of the neck of one of the bounty hunters.

"Zorro? Was he here? Undetected? Damn!" he shouted, kicking the floor. Catching Zorro was definitely a personal issue now, no longer professional. "How is that possible?"

"Look, he is like a ghost. He's been fooling us for years, we don't know how he does it, but he does," the soldier said, shrugging his shoulders, somehow amused by the German's tantrum.

"I'm going to get them both… Soon… And then…" he didn't finish but it wasn't necessary; his expression said it all.

ZZZ

Diego stepped out of the tavern and walked the short distance to the doctor's house, thinking on an acceptable excuse for Cristina's injuries. Even if he had to admit domestic violence, it would be worth to have the doctor's advice.

"Good morning, Don Diego. I am glad you are here. I have been thinking about you. I was wondering when you would finally come to see me so I can have a look at your arm," doctor Hernández said after letting him in.

"What?" Diego exclaimed, astonished by these unexpected words.

"I am a physician, Don Diego. I have been watching you for years and I am quite sure you are Zorro. When I looked at you the other day in the tavern I saw that you have been shot in the back quite recently. I don't know how you pulled through that one on your own. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me with the condition that you seek my advice every time you get injured," the doctor said reassuring Diego, who was speechless and didn't react at all. "Come on, let me have a look. After watching you wince so many times yesterday and the way you are carrying your arm now, I would say you have a nasty wound right _there,_" he said, pressing the painful spot looking to provoke a reaction, which came as a loud groan.

"Yes, yes, you are right. I am Zorro, and I am injured," he confessed moving away, coming out of the shock through pain, quite relieved he could count with the doctor from now on. "But that can wait. I am here for my wife." He liked the sound of that, _my wife_.

"Doña Cristina? What's wrong with her?"

"It's her breathing. You better have a look now, please. She is in the room in the tavern."

"All right, let me get my bag."

He followed Diego into the tavern, where they encountered Victoria in the landing upstairs.

"Don Diego, are you all right? What happened yesterday?" she asked, concerned again with the doctor's presence.

"Yes, I am all right, Victoria, thank you. I banged my head on the ground last night and I was a bit dizzy afterwards, but I am fine now, don't worry," he said opening the door behind him slightly, so the doctor could come into the room, closing it again quickly against his back.

"Why is the doctor here?" she asked, frustrated because Diego had closed the door so quickly, before she had the chance to peek into the room.

"Cristina is not feeling very well this morning, so I thought it would be a good idea if Doctor Hernández had a quick look at her before we set off on our honeymoon."

"Oh, yes. Where are you going?"

"San Diego." _Opposite way to Monterey, sorry_.

"Nice. I am taking the stagecoach back to Monterey today, so I guess this is goodbye?"

"Yes, it is, Victoria. Goodbye, take care," he said, kissing her cheek lightly. She hugged him.

"Goodbye Diego. Sorry for the trouble I caused."

"Don't worry. Keep in touch," he said, retreating into the room.

"I will. I'll miss you," she muttered to the closed door, with great sadness. The door had definitely been closed on her face for the last time. Time to move on with her life.

ZZZ

"Don Diego, how did she get these injuries?" the doctor asked when Diego came back into the room. He was looking at him suspiciously, with a raised eyebrow.

"Please, call me Diego. "_Don_" is too formal now that you know my secret."

"Very well, _Diego_… What happened to her? How did she break her ribs like this?"

"That _bloody_ German punched her," he said clenching his fists again.

"What?" the doctor said, puzzled. "When? Why?"

"Well, you already figured out that I am Zorro, so I guess you can keep a few more secrets. She is the Italian," Diego said, giving up on the secrecy altogether.

"What?" he could not believe it. "Cristina is the Italian swordsman? How?"

"It doesn't matter how, she is. And that bastard tortured her last night. He broke her ribs and nearly drowned her. I think she got some water into her lungs."

"And I thought I was clever unmasking you," the doctor muttered. "I didn't see this coming. What a fascinating couple you are!" he said, coming back to Cristina to listen to her chest with his new stethoscope, a piece similar to an ear trumpet. He could hear some crackles and abnormal noises. "She has a mild pulmonary oedema and probably lung contusions. I can prepare a diuretic herbal mixture to try to remove that fluid, before she gets pneumonia, which will be likely if the water was very filthy. At least she has no fever, that's a good sign."

"What about the ribs, and the sternum?"

"There is nothing I can do about that. It is going to be painful for her to breathe until they heal. She needs to rest and to stay in an upright position, as she is now, and she could wear a tight corset or a bandage to hold the ribs. What about your arm? Should I have a look now?"

Diego removed his shirt and the dressings covering the injury.

"Jesus! What a mess. You should have come to me before! That is never going to heal without proper debridement and closure, and the muscles are already contracting and shortening. It may be too late, Diego. At least the honey kept the wound clean and moist. When did it happened, and how?"

"Well, don't worry about this now, you can sort it out later. It has been like that for nearly a week now, one more day won't make a huge difference. I will send Felipe to get the herbal remedy later." After covering the wound again with dressings, he asked: "Can you come tomorrow to the hacienda to have a look at her again? Then you can sort out the arm. Thank you, doctor."

"You are welcome," the doctor said, collecting his things back in the bag. "One more thing. Be careful, Diego, don't seek revenge with them. They are very dangerous."

"I know, but someone has to stop them."

Diego saw him to the door and closed it quickly behind him, as before. He knew Victoria was still lurking.

ZZZ

The trunks containing the newlywed's clothes and personal effects were ready to be placed in the carriage, waiting at the Hacienda de la Vega entrance. The initial plan was to take a smaller carriage to the tavern so the couple could travel south on their own to San Diego, but Felipe knew that a honeymoon holiday was very unlikely to happen.

"Felipe, I don't think it is a good idea to let Diego and Cristina set off without saying goodbye," Don Alejandro said, tuning into Felipe's thoughts. "I also want to check on him, he looked rather sick yesterday. Instead of taking the carriage to him, go and bring them back here. Don't take the trunks yet, that would force him to come if he doesn't agree with the plan. Oh, and just in case, take the closed carriage with the driver's box, that would dissuade him to drive it, even if he plans to buy new clothes in San Diego."

Felipe smiled. Don Alejandro seemed to be thinking ahead too, and would not allow Diego to slip through without checking on him first.

Worried about the outcome of Diego's rescue mission, Felipe hadn't slept much that night and he was anxious to find out what happened, so he headed to Los Angeles at a fast pace. When he arrived there, Diego was already waiting for him outside the tavern. To make sure nobody could hear their conversation, he talked to him in a very low voice, nearly whispering.

"Ah, Felipe, you are here. Cristina is not fit to travel to San Diego. I think the best place for her to recover is the Hacienda. I thought about hiding in the cave as if we were gone, but she won't be comfortable there."

Felipe signed for a few seconds.

"She has two broken ribs and pulmonary oedema; doctor Hernández saw her this morning. By the way, the doctor figured out _who_ I am, so he will be part of the team from now on."

A pair of wide open eyes looked at him disbelieving.

"Yes, I know, it's hard to believe; apparently you should have called him when I was shot because he already knew. He also knows about the Italian. Anyway, we can talk about this later. Let's get her in the carriage."

They rushed upstairs to the room, where Cristina was dressed and ready to go, resting on the pillows. She had the mantilla wrapped around her head and neck, up to her chin, to conceal the haematoma on her jaw. Felipe saluted her.

"Hello Felipe. Thank you for the mantilla, you are very clever," she said, making him smile with pride.

Diego held her up in his arms again, wishing his left arm would not be as painful as on the previous day, but it was, or even worse. At least, he was not dizzy and unbalanced anymore.

Cristina held onto his neck wishing her ribs would not be too painful in that curled up position, but they were. They were hurting like hell and she could hardly breathe.

They both wished they could cover the short distance between the room and the carriage as soon as possible, but they were delayed because at the tavern entrance they encountered Victoria, who was getting ready to get into the stagecoach, which had already arrived.

They both cursed silently their bad luck.

"Cristina, Diego, how are you? Are you setting off on your honeymoon now? Congratulations."

"Yes, fine, thank you, Victoria," Diego said, talking quite fast. "Well, actually, Cristina is not feeling very well this morning, that's why I am taking her to the carriage."

Cristina tried to smiled, but she just managed a weird grimace. She could feel Diego's arm trembling with the effort of holding her there, standing still at the tavern entrance.

"Good luck with the baby. Let us know if you get a boy or a girl. Goodbye," she managed to say slowly, without coughing.

"Thank you, I will. You should visit to see the baby," Victoria said. "Sorry you are sick. I hope you get well soon. Goodbye."

"Let me get her in the carriage, Victoria," Diego said, moving outside, nearly dropping Cristina inside the carriage rather than to place her gently on the seat. He sighed, relieved he had made it. "Are you all right?" he asked. She nodded, coughing quietly, wincing.

"As much as I can be. Oh, please, let's go," she begged.

Diego got out of the carriage to say the final farewell to Victoria when an unmistakable voice said to his back:

"Well, well, señor De la Vega, I believe congratulations are in order."

Diego cursed his bad luck again, and tried to keep calm through the torrent of hatred that clouded his mind. He turned around slowly, staring at the German with cold, angry eyes which meant impending harm.

"Thank you," he blurted out, his eyes throwing daggers.

The German stared at him with his lifeless shark eyes, wondering how much he could push this man before he could drag him into a one to one fight and to his dead. His damaged psychopathic mind just had the urge to maim someone. Karl was very angry now and somebody had to pay for it, so why not the pompous caballero who had dared to punch one of his men. He was somehow amused by the hatred he could see in those blue eyes, assuming it was due to the beating and humiliation he had received at the tavern. Three words came to his mind, as used by the Alcalde before: _harmless,_ _useless_ and _jerk_. Although harmless, useless caballeros didn't usually deliver blows like he did.

"I would like to have a quick look inside your carriage, if you don't mind," he said, moving towards the door.

"No. I _do _mind," Diego said, getting on his way. "Why do you want to look?" His fists and jaw where clenching, a gesture that Karl noticed, making him show his hyena grin.

"I am looking for that dangerous criminal Zorro and his accomplice, the Italian. They may be hiding in your carriage. Actually, it could be dangerous for you if you were taking them along inadvertently. Let me help you." He tried to push Diego out of the way, but he would not give in an inch.

"No need for that, I already checked," he spat, more and more consumed by the intense hostility he felt towards the German.

"Señor, you agreed with the Italian you would not harass anybody while looking for Zorro," Victoria said with a shaky voice, fearing for Diego's life.

"No, I agreed to leave alone the people in the plaza. I believe this nice couple were not included in the deal as they were hiding away in the tavern," he said with his hideous, slimy smile.

"I know what you are doing, but it won't work," Diego said with a cold, icy voice, with his clenched fists clearly shaking now with the uncontrollable bursting rage.

At that moment, Cristina opened the carriage door and said: "if you really have to look into the carriage, please make it quick, and leave us alone."

"You have been saved by your missus," Karl said with an even broader nasty smile, pushing Diego aside with the carriage door this time to peek inside. Cristina moved back as far from him as possible, looking down, afraid he could recognize her, making a great effort to contain a nervous cough.

"Congratulations, señora De la Vega," he said, dragging out his words, with a kind of sound which reminded Cristina of a vicious snake.

"Thank you," she muttered.

While his torso was inside the carriage, Karl took off his right leather glove. When he came out, he slapped Diego's face with it before he could even blink. The crowd that was gathering around them gasped with this action.

"You are right, words alone won't work. You lack the passion of your father in law. But a caballero can't refuse this kind of challenge, can he?" Karl said, stepping back slowly with his hand at the hilt. "Would you like a sword now?"

"No, I don't," Diego said, gathering all his willpower so he could reject his offer of a sword. The crowd murmured, disappointed. "If you were a gentleman you would know the rules. I will send my second with the terms and conditions for the challenge."

Diego got into the carriage slamming the door behind, giving up on saying goodbye to Victoria. Felipe quickly climbed up to the coachman's seat to drive the carriage away.

"But, why not now? You coward!" Karl shouted. Diego leaned out of the window.

"My wife is ill. I won't give you the satisfaction to kill me before I get her home. My second would address you this evening. Have a good day," he said, while the carriage moved away. The crowd murmured again, this time approvingly.

At that moment the stagecoach was also ready to go, after only a very brief stop. Victoria quickly climbed up inside to hide her tears, glad she would not be there to see Diego get killed.

The rumours about Don Diego's duel spread out fast, and in a couple of hours nearly everybody in Los Angeles knew about it.

ZZZ

"Diego, what are you going to do? You can't fight that crazy man as yourself! If you do, with your skills, everybody will know you are Zorro. And if you don't fight well, he is going to kill you. He is quite good with the sword. I know that," Cristina said, so worried she started another round of coughing. Diego left his seat to come closer to her, to support her again through the breathing crisis.

"Shhh… Calm down, nothing is going to happen," he said, holding her ribs and stroking her hair. "I will deal with him, don't worry."

"He is not right in the head. He actually enjoys killing and causing harm," she said when she was able to speak again. "And you are already injured, Diego. I am scared. I don't want you to die."

"Neither do I. Don't worry, it is not going to happen. I will kill him before he can touch me," he said, determined. He was trying to reassure her, but he knew she was right. The only way he could win a sword fight was to use all his skills, and if he did that, the alcalde and everybody else would suspect him. They didn't talk much the rest of the journey, Cristina's mind filled with worry while Diego's was filled with hatred and frustration. When they arrived to the hacienda he was so tense his jaw was hurting because of the way he was clenching it.

"Diego, how are you?" Don Alejandro said, coming outside to greet them. He saw Diego's expression and he immediately knew something was terribly wrong. "What's the matter, Son? What's wrong?"

"Cristina is sick; we won't be able to go on our honey moon," Diego said with an uncontrollable anger in his voice.

"What is wrong with her? I am sure she is going to be all right. Don't be so dramatic Diego, you can always go on holidays later on, when she feels better," Don Alejandro said, quite amused by his son's attitude.

"And… and…" Diego hesitated, not sure how to tell his father the bad news. "And… the German has insulted me and now I have to challenge him to a duel. He will be expecting my seconds this evening."

Don Alejandro was speechless, gaping incredulous.

"What?" he finally managed to articulate. "A duel? Against that heartless killer? Are you insane?"

"Let me get Cristina to her room first. We'll talk about this later. Felipe, can you please go back to the pueblo to collect the herbal remedy? The doctor should have it ready now, thank you," he said, leaning inside the carriage to get her out. Don Alejandro followed them to the house nearly as distressed as Cristina, who was sobbing in Diego's arms, while Felipe set off with the carriage, back to the pueblo.

"What's wrong with her?" Don Alejandro asked again when Diego came out of her room.

"Something is wrong with her lungs. Doctor Hernández saw her this morning. He is going to prepare a remedy for her."

"But she was fine yesterday! How come it happened so quickly?"

"I don't know, the doctor said it could happen," he lied. He looked towards the group of relatives who were waiting for him in the library to say goodbye. "Don't tell them anything about the other issue. I will discuss it with you and Alfonso later. I don't want them to get involved or worried."

Don Alejandro agreed, nodding. Most of them were leaving that afternoon or the next day; it would be better if they didn't know.

"And please, send someone to tell the Blascos she is sick. They would like to know."

ZZZ

Karl's frustration escalated because now he was: unable to get any reliable information about Zorro's identity or how to find him; unable to find the Italian who escaped through his fingers; and failing to vent those frustrations by killing a man on the spot. And now he would have to bother with a proper duel, with all the hassle that would cause. _Damn the caballeros and their Code of Honour!_ he thought.

All the other common criminals he usually killed to claim the reward made mistakes, and someone always knew where to look for them, but Zorro was different, and much more careful. He thought about whom in the whole village, other than the ex-girlfriend who had just gone in the stagecoach, could know Zorro's identity. The only person who came to mind was the doctor, the one who would have treated the wound that was cauterized at the ravine's edge, and many other previous injuries. He asked Sergeant Mendoza where the doctor's house was, and he pointed it out across the street. Karl immediately paid him a visit with a couple of his men in tow.

"Good morning, doctor," the German said when doctor Hernández opened the door. The doctor was expecting Felipe and was very surprised to find the German there, especially after hearing what happened with Diego. Karl pushed the door, making his way inside the house uninvited. "I need to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind…"

"What do you need to know?" the doctor said cautiously, moving away from them.

"Oh, nothing important, just… Who is Zorro?"

"I beg your pardon?" the doctor said, hoping the German would not really suspect that he knew.

"The question was: _who is Zorro_? You must know. I am sure you have treated some of his injuries in the past. So come on, tell me, who is he?"

"But, I don't know! Nobody knows."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure. I don't know."

Karl signalled to his men. One of them suddenly grabbed the old man, twisting his right arm behind his back, pushing his torso violently down on the table, while the other one held his left arm extended, waiting for instructions.

"What are you doing? Leave me alone!" doctor Hernández cried with his face crushed against the table.

"Last chance. I am not as patient as your Alcalde seems to be. Who is Zorro? Where can I find him?"

"I told you I don't know!"

The German nodded and the man holding the left arm grabbed the doctor's little finger, pulling it back until it cracked, fractured. The doctor cried out in pain.

"WHO?"

Doctor Hernández didn't say anything this time. Karl signalled again and the bounty hunter repeated the process breaking the next finger. The doctor screamed in pain again.

"Come on, tell me who. We have another eight fingers to go!"

"I don't know who he is, otherwise I would tell you!" the doctor cried. Thinking quickly, he added: "what I do know is that there isn't another doctor for many miles around here. So think carefully before you break all my fingers, because I won't be able to help you if Zorro pierce you from side to side, which I think he will, especially after you tortured his Italian friend."

"I think you are right, doctor. We better spare your fingers… but you won't need your feet to treat my potential injuries, will you?" he said, drawing his gun, aiming at the doctor's right foot. The loud bang was followed by a loud howl of pain.

"For the last time: WHO IS ZORRO?!"

"I DON'T KNOW, YOU MANIAC!" doctor Hernández shouted. He screamed again when the German stepped on his injured foot, and he continued screaming in agony while Karl pressed hard twisting his heel down, digging into the gunshot wound.

"All right, I don't think you know… or you would have told me by now, but I will be watching you. Come on boys, let's go!"

They dropped the doctor on the floor and left the house, once again passing by close to a young man without paying attention to him. Felipe, who was waiting outside, trying to be inconspicuous resting against the wall in another house, had heard the gunshot and the screams. Fearing the worse, he came into the house quickly when they left. Inside, he found the doctor trying to stand up unsuccessfully. He helped the shaken old man to get up and to walk to the bed, leaping on his undamaged foot.

"Thank you Felipe. I am so glad you are here. Can you please have a look at that wound? At my age, my feet are one of the areas I can't reach so easily anymore. You will find some dressings in that cupboard."

Felipe took the blood stained boot and sock off, and checked the foot, which had a gunshot wound right in the middle, with an entry wound at the top and an exit one at the sole. Looking in the cupboard, he grabbed a few dressings and came back to place a tight pressure bandage on the foot, to stop the bleeding. The doctor groaned in pain when he did that, but then he used the same words Diego had used before.

"Well done, Felipe. You could make a fine doctor one day."

When he had finished with the foot, they had a look at the doctor's fingers. Doctor Hernández groaned again when he pulled his own fingers straight, instructing Felipe how to use a piece of wood in between them to hold them like that with a bandage.

"I heard what happened with Diego. If he is going to challenge that crazy man to a duel, I need to fix his arm first. Take me back to the hacienda with you. I will give the herbal remedy to Cristina myself."

ZZZ

Doctor Hernández stepped out of the carriage cautiously, hopping on his left foot, and walked slowly towards the house with the help of a crutch and Felipe's support. Don Alejandro came out to welcome him, and he was shocked about the state the doctor was in.

"Good morning doctor Hernández. What happened to you? Are you all right? Come on in, sit down here."

"Thank you," the doctor said, sitting in the chair he was pointing at. "No, I am not, Don Alejandro; I am not all right. The German has gone mad. He shot me and broke two of my fingers because I could not tell him who Zorro is. As if I knew! He is mental."

"He did what?" asked Diego, appearing behind the doctor. He could not believe it.

"Don Diego, I've got the remedy for Doña Cristina. How is she?"

"The same, thank you. Has he really shot you? Why?"

"He has the idea that as a doctor I should know who Zorro is because I would have treated his injuries, which is not the case."

He glanced at Diego with an apologetic look in his eyes, which made Diego feel guilty, although he had found out the doctor knew about his secret identity only a couple of hours ago.

"They started breaking my fingers one by one. When I told him it was not a good idea to break all my fingers because there isn't another doctor around to treat him if he needed one, he reconsidered and shot my foot instead."

"The bastard! How dares he?" Don Alejandro said.

"What happened? Who's the bastard?" Don Francisco asked. He had arrived at the hacienda at that moment with Doña María Luisa, who walked past towards Cristina's room after saluting the men briefly. "Doctor Hernández, what happened to you?"

Don Francisco was surprised to see the doctor also injured. He didn't look that healthy himself, with his limbs also covered in bandages, limping more than ever.

"Same as you, I got in Karl Jäger's way."

"The bastard!"

"Precisely, that's what I was saying, Francisco," Don Alejandro said. "And not only that, he has slapped Diego's face too, dragging him to a duel."

"What? But he's already beaten him up before! What is going on?"

Diego shrugged his shoulders. He realized then of the irony: at that moment there were four different people in the house that had been beaten, shot or slashed by the German, but they all had managed to stay alive one way or another_. That man has to be neutralized as soon as possible before he can harm anybody else_, Diego thought, because the way they were going, that someone else would be his father, still unharmed.

"Diego, we are waiting for you at the library," Alfonso said, approaching them. He saw their grave faces and asked them: "What is going on? Why do you have such long faces?" They told him the bad news with a quick summary of the events, finishing with the unprovoked attack to the doctor.

"The bastard!" Alfonso exclaimed then, following the trend.

Then the testosterone kicked in and the men started to talk about strategies for the duel, the three more experienced men remembering their soldier days, giving random advice to Diego in an all-male fraternity to help the inexperienced, helpless weakest link in the family. Diego shook his head and held his hands in front of him, moving them slowly up and down, trying to make them stop, overwhelmed by the eager display of gentlemen's fighting techniques.

"Shhh… we will talk about this later. I don't want the others to find out and worry. Let me have a look at the doctor's foot first," he said, helping the doctor to walk to another room where he could lie in a divan. "I will take the medicine to Cristina first. Doctor, what is the dose?"

"Two spoons every six hours," he said, trying to reach his foot to remove the bandage.

After giving Cristina the first dose of the remedy, Diego had a look at the doctor's injured foot. Felipe's bandage had worked nicely to stop the bleeding, making it possible to have a look now for any fragments of leather or any other materials embedded in the tissues. When the wound was clean, Diego placed another support bandage so the doctor could walk better with it, as if the foot had just been sprained.

"Doctor, which weapon do you think would be the best one to choose for the duel?" he suddenly asked, lifting his eyes to him, seeking advice.

"The best weapon would be a gun. Sword wounds to the chest and abdomen are more dangerous than gunshot ones. Sure he cannot win a sword fight if you use all your skills, but it would look very suspicious if you suddenly become an accomplished swordsman overnight," doctor Hernández said, confirming what Diego already knew.

"But I am not that good with a gun. I don't like to use them, and I am sure he is quite good with them."

"Practice then, practice until you can put a bullet in his head before he has the chance to shoot you," the doctor said, patting Diego's back gently. "That way, with a gun fight, your wounds won't interfere with your movement because you will be standing still, and you won't get as exhausted as with a sword fight. And when you hit him, you can always say it was just good luck, or poetic justice, so nobody would suspect you are Zorro."

"Yes, you are right, thank you for the advice. I'll start practicing as soon as possible. Stay here resting."

He left to collect Don Alejandro's duel guns, eager to start practicing, but then he realized he could not do it until the guests had left the house.

ZZZ

After lunch, Diego said goodbye to his uncle Alfredo and a few other guests. He was sad to let them go because he had not seen some of them in years, but on the other hand he was keen to get rid of them so he could start planning for the duel.

When he came back to the house to check on Cristina, he found the doctor in the room with her. Doña María Luisa was not there, so the doctor could talk freely to Diego.

"Diego, I have to suture that wound as soon as possible. The gap is getting bigger all the time. The muscles are retracting, especially because you keep using the arm. If I don't do it now, it may be too late and it will never come together. But if I do suture it, you will need to keep it immobile inside a bandage for many days, or the stitches will break down."

"That blooming duel is very bad timing for everything, isn't it?"

"Don't try to be ironic, it is not going to work," Cristina said. "You have to have it done tonight, please. But, how will you justify the bandage?"

They kept quiet for a moment, thinking.

"I can say I dislocated my shoulder again and the doctor will pretend to put it back in place. After all, I did bang it pretty hard yesterday," Diego said.

"Yes, that will do. Can you pretend you fall off a ladder or somewhere high?" the doctor said.

"Yes, we'll think of something."

ZZZ

There was a loud thumping knock in the library, followed by a scream that could be heard all over the house. Everybody except Cristina looked for the source of the noise, until they all gathered in the library, where Doctor Hernández was helping Diego to sit up.

"What happened?" Don Alejandro asked.

"Diego was trying to get a book from the top shelf and he fell off the ladder. I think he may have damaged his shoulder again," doctor Hernández said, palpating it. "Yes, it is dislocated. I will need to get the humerus back in its socket," he added, holding Diego's arm, pressing hard on his wound so his agonizing grunting noises while the doctor was pretending to fix his shoulder would sound as realistic as possible.

"Arghhh…. stop it!" Diego cried, trying to look horribly distressed. It was easy. "Leave it!"

"Just hold on… hold on… there!" Doctor Hernández pushed Diego's shoulder forward with a blow with his right hand, pretending to fit the bone in its right place while twisting the wound, digging in the gap the piece of wood he was using to support his fractured fingers, achieving another very realistic painful scream by his patient.

"All done. Now you need a support bandage to keep it in place for a few weeks. I will get my bag."

"Your shoulder again, Diego? With a bandage? How are you going to…? You know… that… issue we have to talk about," Don Alejandro said. Rafael and the remaining guests were present, and they wondered what was all that about.

"That will have to wait until later, Father."

Alfonso helped Diego up from his sitting position on the floor. The doctor came back with the materials to place the bandage, which ended up being a bulky structure that supported the arm bended immobile and close to Diego's body, with his fingers showing on top to check for inflammation. It was the same kind of thing he was planning to do later on to hold the arm still while the stitches would heal.

ZZZ

The first chance he had for privacy, Diego called his father apart to tell him the conditions for the challenge.

"I would like you and Alfonso to be my seconds for the challenge, if that is all right with you."

"Of course, Diego, I was counting on that. Have you thought about the kind of weapon you want to use?"

"I want to use a gun, and the duel has to happen as soon as possible."

"A gun? Well, the weapon doesn't matter, really," Don Alejandro said, unable to tell Diego it didn't matter because he was equally useless with any of them. "That's good, we will ask for a single shot satisfaction. If we are lucky, you won't hit each other and it will be done, with your honour intact."

"No, that man is crazy. Look at what he had done to Don Francisco and Doctor Hernández. I don't want him to harm anybody else. I have to kill him."

Diego was absolutely serious, although it was totally out of character for him to declare he wanted to kill a man. He had always been more inclined to bring criminals to justice rather than taking justice into his own hands. Nonetheless, this time, he was certain of something: Karl had to be eliminated. That was the only way he could make sure he could protect himself, and all the others. It wasn't just the anger he felt about what he had done to Cristina. It was the whole situation. There was no other way.

"Diego, I am not going to ask for a satisfaction to the death, don't be crazy, you don't know what you are talking about. It's bad enough as it is."

"All right then, a single shot will do. The location could be that large field half way between the hacienda and the alcalde's property by the river. Do you know which one I mean?"

"I think so. Is it the one with the large tree in the middle?"

"Yes, that one. I would like to do it in two days' time, on Tuesday, at noon. Can you take Alfonso with you to tell them the conditions this evening?"

"Yes, I will ask him now, but, why so soon Diego? You won't have time to practice, and—"

"I will have plenty of time to practice tomorrow."

"Diego… I don't think that—"

"No, father, I told you before: he is crazy. Someone has to stop him as soon as possible."

"And that _someone_ is _you_, all of a sudden a man of action!"

"He dragged me into this. I didn't want to fight him. But he won't come out of it alive."

Don Alejandro had never seen his son so determined, so he didn't say anything else, but he feared Diego could not rise to the occasion.

ZZZ

When Don Alejandro and Alfonso were gone to see the German's seconds, Diego talked to Doctor Hernández.

"Can you hang around the fireplace for a while, on your own? I need to show you something. Give me half an hour and go to that room, then you can fix my arm."

"All right. I can do that. Half an hour."

Diego nodded, and went to get Felipe. Together, they sneaked out of the hacienda and walked to the cave entrance. Diego prepared a few instruments and materials to fix the wound, feeling quite apprehensive about the whole thing, which was going to be a torture for him, again. He looked into the room upstairs through the spyhole and saw doctor Hernández standing there on his own with his crutch, his back to the fireplace. He manually opened the door and called the doctor, startling him.

"Diego! I wasn't expecting you there!"

"Come, quickly, it is a secret passage," he said, closing the door behind them. "Welcome to the Fox's liar."

"So this is where you have been hiding Toronado all this time… right under you father's nose. I am so impressed," the doctor said, having a quick glance around the cave.

"Yes, it has been quite handy. All this time, and he still hasn't figured it out."

Diego showed the doctor the infirmary and the materials he had selected.

"Would this be all right, or do you need something else?"

"Have you got suture materials, like catgut and silk thread?"

"Yes, it is all in there."

Diego removed his shirt and all the bandages and lay down in the bed, positioning himself so the arm was close to where doctor Hernández could reach it easily while sitting down.

"Diego, this is going to hurt. I have to remove all the tissues that are not going to heal and make the wound fresh. Do you want to drink some alcohol?"

"No, I did that before, and it didn't work. But according to Felipe, I was quite sick with all that wine afterwards," he said, winking at him.

"What about laudanum?"

"No, that would make me too sleepy, for too long. But I have my stick," he said holding it up in his right hand, with an uncertain smile.

"All right then. Felipe, can you hold his arm down for me, so he doesn't move it away too much? Thank you. There we go."

Diego bit the stick hard while doctor Hernández debrided the wound, cutting all the inflamed, burnt tissue away to get to the viable, fresh, bleeding muscles. He cleaned the whole gap, which was three centimetres wide in some points, and placed some absorbable sutures in the muscles. It was quite difficult to bring the edges together, and Diego groaned continuously, trying not to scream the place down, held tightly by Felipe. In the end, the doctor managed to do an acceptable repair, closed the skin with the silk sutures and replaced the bulky bandage to keep the arm immobile for several weeks.

Diego was spent afterwards, and stayed in bed in the cave for a couple of hours. Felipe opened the fireplace door so doctor Hernández could come back to the house to check on Cristina. Then, he tended to Toronado and waited until Diego had recovered enough from the ordeal to reappear in the house. After Diego walked through it, Felipe closed the secret door behind him and walked back to the hacienda.

That night, the newlywed couple were so tired and aching that they wouldn't dare to initiate any kind of intimate contact, so they lay side by side, fast asleep until the morning.

ZZZ

"I don't know what's going on, Diego, but I hope everything works out in your favour," said his cousin Rafael in the morning, hugging him, patting his back. He was leaving to go back home to his wife Margarita, who couldn't bother with the three day journey to Los Angeles for the wedding, a fact that he didn't mind too much because he'd had the opportunity to enjoy a brief period away from her without the constant nagging. "I hope Cristina gets well soon and you can go on your honeymoon. Goodbye Diego."

"Goodbye Rafael. Thanks for coming to the wedding," he said watching his cousin climb up to his carriage. "Shame Margarita could not come."

"Yes, such a shame!" he said, winking. Diego knew Margarita well, and he knew she could be quite a handful. They both chuckled, knowingly, and then Rafael left.

Rafael was the last guest to leave. Only Alfonso remained because he was going to act as second in the duel. It was time for Diego to get on with the shooting practice because the duel was at noon the next day and he still had not had the chance to do it. With Felipe's help, he set up a scare crow outside the hacienda, walked 20 steps away from it, and started shooting with Don Alejandro's duelling pistols. Felipe would load one, hand it over, and reload the other while Diego shot. After only four shots, they saw the Alcalde approaching them, arriving at the hacienda on his horse.

"Diego, I heard what happened with the German," De Soto said, uneasy when he found Diego outside practicing with the duel pistols. He dismounted tying the horse to the rail, and he walked closer to Diego. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he was worried about him, feeling somehow responsible for his impending death.

"So?" Diego said after firing the gun missing the target on purpose, an action which made the Alcalde shook his head looking to the ground embarrassed, pitying him.

"Do you realize duelling is illegal?"

"Yes, I do. But, what do you want me to do? Why is it legal to kill somebody on the spot in self-defence, but it is illegal to do so with a cold head, having time to prepare? He was trying to kill me right there in the plaza out of frustration because he can't find Zorro, as he tried to do with Don Francisco at the wedding party." He grabbed the other primed pistol that Felipe handed him over and aimed to the target again. "Not you, not anybody else did anything to help when that scumbag provoked me, so don't tell me now that you care."

"What happened to your arm?"

"I fell off a ladder yesterday. I dislocated my shoulder again," he said, still holding the gun up.

De Soto shook his head again. That man's clumsiness was unbelievable.

"He is going to kill you, Diego," De Soto said with genuine concern.

"We'll see to that," he said, firing the gun another time.

De Soto sighed when Diego missed the target again. He came back to his horse, mounted, and galloped away back to the pueblo. It had been a mistake to agree to the conditions of the bounty hunters. They were not closer to apprehend Zorro that he had ever been himself, and their blood thirsty psychopath leader was too great a menace. He hoped Diego could really kill him to get rid of him, but he doubted that would happen, most likely the other way round.

When De Soto left, Diego continue shooting, the next five shots right on target. Satisfied, he tried to go back to the house to check on Cristina once more, but Don Alejandro came out to check on him and his shooting technique, followed by Alfonso and Don Francisco.

"Let me see how you do it, Diego," Don Alejandro said. "Shoot."

"I have been practicing enough already."

"No, you haven't. Come on, let's see what you got," Alfonso said. When Diego positioned himself with the gun aiming at the target, he got the first piece of expert advice.

"No, Diego, you have to minimize the area you offer to your opponent. Try to offer a slim-profile only, like that," he said, twisting Diego's torso so he would be showing only his flank to the scarecrow.

"Yes, I know, Alfonso, but… my other arm—"

"And try to hold your breath when you aim, that would keep the gun still," Don Francisco said.

"And take your time to aim, don't rush it. You will have about three or four seconds before I tell you to open fire," Don Alejandro said.

They continued offering random advice, eager to help him, but he just wanted to shout: "_I know all about it, just shut up!"_

He fired the first shot aiming to the scarecrow's hand, blowing it away. The three older men looked at each other, concerned.

"Not bad, not bad at all, Diego," Don Alejandro said, trying to be positive. "Try again, Son, and this time try to hit his torso. Aim for the vital organs; a hand will not be good enough tomorrow."

He shot again, just brushing the dummy's shoulder, right on the spot where he was aiming at.

"All right, that's better. Try again. Keep going."

Diego continued shooting badly for a while, making everybody very nervous and concerned with his lack of skills, something they were already suspecting. In the end, he aimed to the scarecrow's head, and he blew it off. Everybody cheered enthusiastically.

"That's better Diego, that's the way to go!" Don Francisco said, patting his back.

"That was lucky!" Diego admitted, smiling. The doctor was right: a lucky shot was possible and nobody would suspect much about it.

He shot a few more times, without hitting any more crucial areas, enduring the torrent of well-meaning, insufferable advice until he complained his right shoulder ached due to the continuous recoil, and they gave up.

ZZZ

"Sergeant Mendoza, officially I don't want to know about the duel because, if he survives —which I doubt it— I would have to get Don Diego in jail," De Soto said, still feeling guilty about Diego's fate. "But I think it would be a good idea if you are present there with a couple of lancers in case the bounty hunters play any nasty tricks. I don't trust them at all. They may try to shoot everybody in a wild rampage if anything goes wrong. That German is crazy. Oh, and do that with plain clothes, but have your weapons with you. Don't wear your uniforms, or that would make it official. Ask Don Alejandro where the duel will take place, but don't tell me; as I said, I don't want to know."

"Sí, mi Alcalde, that's an excellent idea. I am worried about Don Diego too. He's just got married, and now this…" he said, with a very sad tone.

"Yes, yes…" De Soto said, circling his hand, dismissing him. "Such a shame…"

ZZZ

Everybody went to bed early at the Hacienda de la Vega that night, but none of them could get to sleep easily, especially Diego and Cristina.

"Diego, I want to make love tonight," she said out of the blue when they were resting in bed close to each other trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep, theirs minds busy thinking about the duel that would take place in the morning.

"But I don't want to do that. I don't want to hurt you. I'm sure making love and broken ribs are not a good combination," he said, kissing her forehead. "We can wait until we both feel better, don't worry."

"You are taking part on a duel tomorrow, Diego. I don't want to lose you, but if I have to, at least give me the chance to have your baby," she said, staring at him intently. He couldn't help but to kiss her, gently at first, but soon they forgot their pain and worry and fell victims to desire and passion.

"Are you sure?" he said whispering to her ear, panting, only too willing to go ahead.

"Yes," she said with a tiny voice, clinging onto him. He undressed her completely while covering her body in kisses. When he finally got himself naked, he placed her across at the edge of the bed, where he could reach her while standing up, propping her up a bit with the pillows. Any other position would be too painful for her or awkward for him because he could only support himself with his right arm, the left one bended inside the support bandage.

Diego tried to be as gentle and quick as possible to minimize her discomfort. When he had finished, she placed Cristina in a more comfortable position for her breathing, and with skilled fingers, he made sure she could touch a piece of heaven.

"I love you, Diego," she whispered when they were quietly lying in each other's arms. After all the stories she had heard in the taverns, she didn't imagine making love could be so tender and enjoyable, even with two broken ribs and a battered body.

"I love you even more, Cristina," he said, kissing her forehead. He placed his right hand on her abdomen. "Rest now, _cariño_, and pray that we get lucky. My father would be happy."

They both chuckled, their worries forgotten for a moment.

ZZZZZ


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 20 – The Duel **

Karl's party was composed of his six men, two of them acting as his seconds. Diego's party was slightly larger, with Don Alejandro and Alfonso as seconds. Felipe, Don Francisco, Mendoza and three other soldiers were present, all carrying weapons in case the bounty hunters would not respect the duelling rules.

Doctor Hernández was Diego's field surgeon. In addition, because there wasn't another doctor available in the area to attend the German if he was injured, doctor Hernández had to agree to look after him too, although he despised the man and didn't want to touch him, like a snake, not even with a stick.

They all met at noon at the designated location: an empty field half way between the Alcalde's property and the De la Vega Hacienda. Karl, unable to behave like a gentleman, was trying to be as irritating as possible, laughing and joking with his men and provoking Diego from the distance with his disrespectful comments.

"Don't pay attention to that moron, Diego," Don Francisco said. "Just focus in the task ahead: put a bullet in that bastard's heart, if he's got one, and let's go back home."

Diego nodded, determined to seek revenge, but trying to keep a cool head when what he really wanted to do was to walk towards the German and punch that smile off his face.

"I am so proud of you, son," Don Francisco said, hugging him. "I thought you didn't have it in you."

"So did I," Diego said, forcing a smile.

All the others also patted his back expressing their support, and encouraged him with their words. Felipe could not stop a couple of tears running down his cheeks when he broke the embrace to his mentor.

"I'll be all right, Felipe. Don't worry."

Diego tried to reassure the youngster, but Felipe was too distressed and embarrassed by his own weakness, so he ran away to watch from a greater distance.

Right at noon, the seconds walked to the middle of the field, by the tree. Don Alejandro carried with him a case with his duel pistols, and Alfonso carried a small table to place all the items. Doctor Hernández followed them slowly with his medical bag, walking with the help of his crutch.

Don Alejandro prepared his duel pistols, watched closely by the German's second man. When they were loaded and ready, he handed them over to the bounty hunter, who inspected them, nodding approvingly. Then, the seconds called their principals to the middle ground, placing them back to back before they handed them the guns.

"Good luck, Son. I love you. I am so proud of you," Don Alejandro said.

"I love you too. Take care of Cristina for me."

"No, you will."

Don Alejandro patted Diego's shoulder again before he retreated a safe distance out of the line of fire.

"Don't worry, _I_ will take care of her for you after I kill you," Karl said with his hyena smile, pressing his back against Diego's.

Hearing these words, Diego had to make a tremendous effort to remain calmed and refrain himself from turning around to knock the German out with a blow that would break all his teeth, erasing his mocking smile for good.

"I will count to ten now. With each count you will advance one step in a straight line away from your opponent," Don Alejandro said with a loud voice, addressing the duellists.

"When you have walked the tenth step, you will turn around and aim at your target, standing firm in your position waiting for my command to open fire. You are not allowed to fire before you are instructed to do so, and you should not move from the spot until both guns are fired. Do you understand?"

"Yes," the principals answered, Karl showing off his malevolent smile contrasting with Diego's resolute, stony face.

"All right, I'll start the count now. One…. Two…. Three…." Don Alejandro said while Diego and Karl stepped slowly away from each other. "….Eight….Nine….Ten…"

They turned around and aimed, but rather than waiting for Don Alejandro's command, Karl fired his gun hitting Diego's abdomen below the ribs, on his right side.

"You, bastard!" Don Alejandro shouted, pointing with his gun at the German, ready to shoot. According to the Code of Honour, he had the right to shoot him down. "I didn't say _fire your weapons_!"

The other bounty hunters quickly aimed their guns at Don Alejandro and the other members of Diego's party, unsure about the rules.

Diego staggered backwards with the impact while trying to hold his position. When he managed to recover his balance, he held his gun up aiming at the German again while a large blood stain was forming quickly on his white shirt.

"Don't shoot, Father. I'll do it. He is mine," he said, with the coldest, firmest voice anybody had ever heard him articulate.

"Stand still like a man!" Don Alejandro shouted because the German was moving from side to side, laughing.

"What for? It doesn't matter, your son won't hit a building even if he was standing two steps away from it!" he said, ignoring the old don, still moving and laughing, just before the back of his head burst open when Diego's bullet hit him right between the eyes. He fell on the ground flat on his back, unconscious, with his right leg shaking, about to die.

Diego dropped his gun and slumped to the ground too, with his white shirt soaking in blood. All the members of Diego's party rushed to his side.

"That bullet must have hit the liver, it's bleeding too much, too fast!" doctor Hernández said, alarmed, having a quick look at the gunshot wound. He hoped it was the liver and not the aorta or vena cava, or any other major abdominal blood vessel, because a shot in the liver was bad enough news. The bullet had come into the abdomen through Diego's right side and exited on his back, and the wound was haemorrhaging profusely. As the only alternative to stop the bleeding, he instructed the others to hold Diego sitting up so he could place an abdominal pressure bandage, helped by Felipe.

"Hey, doctor, have a look at my boss!" Karl's second shouted. The German had a glazed look in his lifeless, open eyes, but his legs were still convulsing.

"I won't waste a second with him. Half his brain is missing. He is gone!" doctor Hernández shouted back, not even glancing towards Karl, concentrated as he was to apply the right amount of pressure to Diego's bandage. _He deserved it, anyway_. When it was finished, Diego complained because he had difficulty breathing with the compacted bandage compressing also his thorax. The other bulky dressing over his left arm was not helping the situation either.

"Sorry, Diego, there is no other way. You are not going to like this, either," the doctor said when he instructed the others to place Diego lying flat on the ground, and told the heaviest man, Alfonso, to sit down right on top of his abdomen on the gunshot wound. They all looked at him puzzled when he suggested this.

"If we can't stop it, he is going to bleed to death. The only way to do it is to place a lot of pressure in that area. Still, it is touch and go," he explained. Diego groaned when Alfonso sat down on his wound as carefully as possible, while Don Alejandro held his son's right hand trying to reassure him.

Diego was very uncomfortable crushed against the irregular, hard, stony ground by Alfonso's weight, and the wound area in his back hurt terribly with the pressure. While holding his father's hand very tightly, he clenched his jaw and closed his eyes to avoid emitting a continuous, loud groan. Don Alejandro placed Diego's head over his leg in a way of an improvised pillow to help him breathe a bit better, talking to him to distract his mind away from the pain.

"Hold on, Son, you are doing so well. I am so proud of you," he said among other things, while stroking his hair. After a while, he realized Diego was fading away. "Stay awake, Diego, don't go, stay with me!" he begged, slapping gently his face, but Diego slowly fell unconscious. He had not recovered from the previous blood loss and he was still quite anaemic to endure another hypovolemic crisis. Besides, less than two days ago he had to put up with another excruciatingly painful experience to repair the wound in his arm, so he gladly gave up on the pain this time, sliding into the painless, quiet darkness.

Doctor Hernández took Diego's pulse and checked his heart with his stethoscope.

"He is unconscious, but his heart rate and breathing are regular. Let's pray the hypotension helps to stop the haemorrhage without causing him to pass away."

"He can't die now… He just got married!" Don Alejandro babbled, in shock. The doctor stood up and squeezed his shoulders.

"He is in God's hands now, Don Alejandro. There is nothing else we can do."

Then, the doctor called Sergeant Mendoza and Felipe apart. The youngster was in such an agitated state, that he thought the best thing would be to give him something to do, away from the injured man.

"If he survives, we are not going to be able to move him for a few hours. Can you go to the hacienda and bring back the flat carriage with some blankets and pillows to keep him comfortable, and some water for everybody while we are here? It may take all day."

"Yes, of course, doctor. _Enseguida,_" Mendoza said, mounting his horse right away, the same as Felipe.

The doctor sighed, looking at Mendoza and Felipe galloping towards the hacienda. The flat open carriage would serve its purpose to transport Diego either way: dead or alive.

ZZZ

"Mother, they are not coming back, something is wrong," Cristina said, uneasy.

"They only left an hour ago," said her mother, who was sitting in an armchair by her bed, saying the rosary. "Give them time to come back."

"No, they are not coming. He's been hit, I can feel it." She tried to move to get out of bed, but she realized she wasn't going far, as the pain won't let her.

A few minutes later, Mendoza and Felipe arrived at the hacienda. Doña María Luisa left the room to check what had happened to her son in law, leaving an anxious Cristina behind.

"Sergeant Mendoza, what happened? We are worried sick."

Mendoza hesitated to tell her, looking at Felipe who look down to the ground as if he wasn't there.

"He is been hit, Doña María Luisa. We can't move him at the moment, the doctor sent us to get the flat open cart to transport him back here."

"Is he going to be all right?"

"I don't know. The doctor said it is touch and go."

"Oh, no. I can't say that to my daughter. She is quite distressed as it is."

"The doctor said I should get some blankets and pillows, and water for everybody, because we may be there all day for several hours before we can move him safely."

"Take everything you need, Sergeant. I'll tell the cook to prepare some food too."

"Thank you, Doña María Luisa. We'll get the cart ready while you do that."

ZZZ

"Mother, what happened? Where is Diego?" Cristina asked, extremely anxious now. Her mother had taken a while to come back to her room while preparing the stuff for Mendoza. Remembering her experience at war, Doña María Luisa told the sergeant to take also a large board to place Diego on so he could be moved safely, but it took them a while to find such a board and to nail wooden planks across to act as handles of the improvised stretcher.

"Calm down, Cristina," Doña María Luisa said when she saw her daughter coughing uncontrollably again due to the stress.

"Is he all right?" she asked between coughs. The herbal remedy was working quite well to remove the fluids from her lungs, but she was still coughing a lot.

"He is been hit. They are waiting because they can't move him yet. Sergeant Mendoza came to collect the flat carriage, because they can't transport him in the other one."

"How bad is it?"

"I don't know Cristina, he didn't say," she said, picking up her rosary. "Let's pray for him. It is the only thing we can do now."

Cristina tried to join her, shaking her rosary beads in her trembling hands, but she was unable to do anything else but cry.

ZZZ

Felipe and Mendoza came back to the field. The situation was the same; nothing had changed for the injured man. Alfonso was still sitting on Diego's abdomen, and Don Alejandro was sitting on the ground beside his son holding his head, refusing to move, still in shock. Doctor Hernández managed to convince him to move away for a moment so he could place Diego's head on a pillow. Despite the warm temperature, he covered Diego with a blanket because he was becoming hypothermic due to the blood lose.

Alfonso was getting quite stiff in that hunched position, but doctor Hernández asked him not to move. Even if his legs were getting a bit numbed he stayed there as still as possible, because he didn't want to compromise his cousin's chances for survival.

Mendoza distributed a few _botijos_ full of fresh water and the bread with _longaniza_, because it was past lunch time. They all ate some food, except Don Alejandro, who didn't want to move away from Diego's side, not even an inch. He hardly reacted to any stimulus or interaction from the other men, and refused to take anything.

By the time Mendoza and Felipe came back, Karl had died and his men were gone, leaving their leader's body behind. They were quite fed up of this Zorro business, and were somehow glad for the opportunity to get rid of their boss, who was becoming increasingly crazy. They came back to their quarters, split the reward money (1000 pesos each), and left Los Angeles for good.

Around 3 pm, doctor Hernández checked Diego's vital signs again, and he got quite worried because he was getting worse. Nearly three hours after Diego was shot, Alfonso was still sitting on his abdomen, but the doctor didn't want to move him yet. He called Mendoza again and told him to transport the German's body to the pueblo, and to come back with Padre Benítez to administer the Last Rites to Diego. With the soldiers' help, the sergeant got the cadaver in the cart and they set off.

Nearly an hour later Padre Benítez knelt down beside Diego, who was still alive but very weak. Don Alejandro looked at him, coming back to reality from the recess his conscious mind had been hiding since Diego was shot.

"Padre, what are you doing here? He is not going to die," he said, quite upset because apparently they were giving up on his son.

"No, hopefully he won't die, Don Alejandro. But he is very ill, so I want to be sure his soul is ready to meet the Creator if his time has come," the priest said gently.

Don Alejandro nodded, crying, and let him go ahead with the ritual of the Extreme Unction. The priest said the prayers and applied the _Oleum Infirmorum_ to Diego.

"_Lord have Mercy. Save your servant who hopes in Thee, my God._

_Send him help, O Lord, from Thy Holy Place. And from Sion Thy protection. _

_Be to him, O Lord, a tower of strength from the face of the enemy._

_Let not the enemy prevail over him. Nor the son of iniquity draw nigh to hurt him._

_O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come to Thee_

_The Lord be with you, and with Thy spirit"_

Sergeant Mendoza, Felipe and Alfonso joined Don Alejandro with their crying, while Don Francisco tried to be stoic, holding back the tears. Doctor Hernández could not allow himself to be affected in such manner, it would be unprofessional, but he was about to, thinking how appropriate the priest's words were for Zorro.

"_Lord God, Who said by thy apostle James: Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins they shall be forgiven him; we implore Thee, our Redeemer, to cure by the grace of the Holy Spirit the ailments of this sick person and heal his wounds, forgive his sins, drive from him all his pains of mind and body and in Thy Mercy restore him to full health within and without, that being cured by the help of thy Mercy he may return to his former duties, Thou Who the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth God, for ever and ever, Amen."_

Doctor Hernández thought that if Diego didn't make it to "return to his former duties" as Zorro, he would tell Don Alejandro who his son really was. Maybe knowing that he had been Zorro all along would give his father some comfort.

ZZZZZ


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Notes**\- **we got to the last one! I hope you enjoyed the story. I know some people will think this development at the end is too convenient for the story, and impossible, and nonsense, and...bla, bla, bla... It is not, it called Christian Metaphysiscs. Curious? Start by reading the "Kybalion" (sorry, it's not a Fanfic!)**

**The last bit is dedicated to PAMZ, a fervent lover of scars, because according to her, "scars are **_**cool**__**, not hideous" **_** ;) (I never shared that belief myself)**

**Please, review. If you enjoyed the story, you can carry on with the ultra-long Part 3. Thanks. **

**Chapter 21 – The Power of Love**

Sometime after four in the afternoon Cristina could not take it any longer, so with difficulty she got out of bed and started to get dressed.

"Cristina, what are you doing? The doctor said you should stay in bed," Doña María Luisa said.

"I know, but I can't stay here doing nothing any minute longer. I have to see him, while he is still alive," she said, putting her dress on slowly, suffering with every move. "We will take the carriage. Please tell Joaquin to get it ready for us."

"But you are very sick! You can't go anywhere."

"Yes, I am very sick, but I am not dying like he is. If you don't get the carriage ready I will ride on Perseo, without a saddle." Her mother knew her well enough to know there was no way she could stop her, so she went to tell the servant to get the carriage ready.

ZZZ

Padre Benítez had finished administering the last rites to Diego. They were all waiting for any signs of change, for better or for worse, before they could decide to move him.

"If the haemorrhage was going to stop with the pressure it should have stopped by now; it has been more than four hours," doctor Hernández said.

They helped Alfonso up, who was very glad to be allowed to move. He could not stand up, because his legs were completely numbed and could not feel them at all, so he lay on the ground while Mendoza and Felipe held his legs up, shaking them to restore the circulation. While he recovered, Doctor Hernández checked Diego's vital signs yet again, and shook his head.

"He is very weak, but his heart is still going, faintly. I don't think it will be long now before he passes away. I'm sorry."

Don Alejandro started crying again, supported by Don Francisco. When the doctor lifted his head, he spotted an open carriage that was approaching the field, behind the others.

"Look."

"Oh, no. That's Cristina. I was wondering when she would come. I knew she would not be able to stay at home, even if she is so sick herself," Don Francisco said. He left his crying friend in Mendoza's care to walk slowly to the carriage to greet his daughter.

"How is he?" Cristina asked the moment the carriage stopped beside her father.

"He is still alive, but he is very weak," Don Francisco said, helping her to climb down the carriage. He hugged his daughter, stoically holding back the tears again. "I am so sorry, Cristina."

"I know," she said, hugging her father briefly. "But let me go with him."

She walked slowly the short distance to the spot where Diego was lying, trying to ignore her own pain. The men standing around him moved away to let her near her husband.

"How is he?" she asked the doctor. "Tell me the truth. Don't lie to me."

"He was shot in the liver. He has lost a lot of blood and he is very weak. I am sorry, Cristina, there is nothing else I can do. I think he is dying," the doctor said, as honest as he could be.

"He can't die. He is not dying. I won't let him!" she said, stubborn, with a weird tone of voice which suggested a hint of madness. They looked at her thinking she had lost her mind with the shock.

"What do you mean, _you won't let him_?" Don Francisco said. "I am sorry, dear, but that is not up to you. It's up to God now."

"Cristina, my child…" intervened the priest.

"Don't _child _me Padre, not now. Leave me alone with him for a few minutes before you move him. Go away, all of you," she demanded, but they didn't move.

"Back off!" she screamed.

Puzzled, they looked at her as if she was possessed, but they still didn't move due to the surprise caused by her reaction. Don Francisco came closer to comfort her, but, before he could touch her, she shouted again.

"Are you all deaf? Go away! NOW!"

Doctor Hernández urged them to move away from the couple a safe distance, worried she could have a coughing fit with all that unnecessary stress.

"She is right. Let's give them some space, come on. She wants to talk to him, alone." He thought that maybe she wanted to say something the others were not supposed to hear, something about Zorro.

With difficulty, she knelt down beside him and kissed his dry, pale lips.

"Diego, you can't die, do you hear me?" she whispered. "I am here now, and I won't let you die. I need you. I love you," she said vehemently, holding his right hand between hers.

She wasn't mad. She had a reason for her seemingly erratic behaviour. While studying on Italy she had come in contact with an underground group of students who introduced her to the Hermetic Principle of Mentalism. She was convinced that as long as she won't give up on him, with the help of positive thinking, he would not die. That's why she had to move the negative energy of the others away from him, because they already thought his death was inevitable. Despite them being Catholics, she knew they would not believe the Truth they had just been told on the Gospel words. Not really, not as she did. Not with that kind of Faith.

"You are not ready to leave this world, Diego. Your mission in this life has not been accomplished yet. People need you. I need you. You can recover from this, it is not the end. Even if the others have given up on you, I won't."

She placed her hands on his chest and closed her eyes, letting her intense energy, feelings and love flow down to him.

"No, thank you, Death, I don't need you. I know the Truth. He can't die before his time. That is God's will. Thank you God, because you have already listened."

She stayed in that position for a couple of minutes, not thinking, just feeling. Then she kissed him again and stood up slowly, holding her ribs. She looked behind towards the group of men who were staring at her, and gestured them to come back. Her mother was still in the carriage, crying.

"He is ready to go back home now. Please, place him in the cart," she ordered.

The men looked at the doctor, who nodded, shrugging his shoulders. It would not make any difference: he was going to die, either on the ground, on transit, or shortly after reaching the hacienda. It didn't matter anymore. Felipe and Alfonso placed the board in the ground beside Diego. With Mendoza's help they moved him carefully onto the board.

Then it happened.

Diego opened his eyes and whispered: "_Cristina_".

Sergeant Mendoza and the priest made the sign of the cross on themselves.

"Madre de Dios! It's a miracle!" Mendoza said.

Doctor Hernández checked Diego's heart rate and pulse and shook his head, smiling in awe.

"I can't believe it! He is back! It _really_ is a miracle!"

They all cheered, amazed, while Cristina looked at them with a smug expression. _I told you. I am a true believer, not like you._

"Diego, son, are you all right?" asked his father, stroking his hair again, caressing his forehead.

Diego tried to talk, but his mouth was too dry. Felipe held one of the _botijos_ up, pouring fresh water into his mouth slowly, giving him time to drink it. Mendoza and the soldiers lifted the board up and carried Diego to the cart, where Cristina was already waiting for him. She sat down beside him and held his hand, smiling.

"Cristina…" he said again, pressing on her hand.

"Yes, I am here, _mi amor_."

"I heard you."

"I knew you would," she said, kissing him again. "Let's go home. You'll be all right."

ZZZ

"Diego, how many new scars have you got since I know you?" Cristina asked.

She was lying in bed with him, trying to count them while caressing his skin with her index finger. A few weeks had passed since the duel and, against the odds, Diego had recovered quite well. Even the wound in his arm had healed quite nicely, and Cristina's ribs were also mended.

"Only a few."

"If you get any more, you are going to look like Rosana's chopping board."

Diego chuckled, picturing in his mind the way the new cook handled the knife. She was brutal, and everybody feared she would cut her own finger off one day while chopping carrots. But Cristina was right, in the last five months he had certainly been maimed all over.

"I've been told scars are… what did she say? _Cool_, that's what she said."

"_Cool_? What does it mean? And who is she, and how does she know about your scars?"

"I think she meant _sensual._ She likes them."

"What? Scars? How can anybody like them? They are hideous," she moaned. "No, I mean… not yours… yours are not hideous, they are…nice," she said, too late, kissing the first one she could lay her eyes on, the more recent one, the gunshot in his abdomen. He laughed, hugging her.

"Still waiting to know who she is," she said, cosy in his arms. "Victoria, maybe?"

"I am not going to tell you," he teased, amused, with his mischievous smile.

"Yes, you are!" she said, slapping his chest.

"All right, all right. No need to become violent. My friend Pamela told me that a long time ago. She had a few scars on her body. I think she was trying to convince herself that she was happy with them, telling me the scars reminded her of important events in her life."

"To be honest, I don't want to be reminded of these events here, ever."

"Neither do I. But, hey, on the other hand… I'm _cool_." His cheeky smile was irresistible.

"Yes, you are. Whatever," she agreed, although that choice of a word sounded ridiculous. _Cool_. That would never become popular.

She kissed him and they soon were all over each other, willing to conceive a grandchild for Don Alejandro.

But, unknown to them, they had done that already.

ZZZZZZZZZZ

End of PART 2


End file.
